
Class _BLi5_ 

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COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 






LECTURES 



SCIENCE OF RELIGION; 



WITH A TAPER ON 



BUDDHIST NIHILISM, 



AND A TRANSLATION OF THE 



DHAJDIAPADA OR "PATH OF VIRTUE. " 



BY 

MAX ^MULLER, M. A. 

FELLOW OF ALL-SAINTS' COLLEGE, OXFORD, CORRESPONDANT DE 

L'INSTITUT DE FRANCE, AUTHOR OF "LECTURES ON THE 

SCIENCE OF LANGUAGE," " CHIPS FROM A GERMAN 

WORKSHOP," ETC. 





NEW YORK: 
CHARLES SCRIBNER AND COMPANY, 

1872. 






riverside, Cambridge: 

stereotyped and printed by 

h. 0. houghton and company 



'Z~UWS 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE 

LECTURES ON THE SCIENCE OF RELIGION. 

First Lecture 3 

Second Lecture 29 

Third Lecture 54 

Fourth Lecture 100 

BUDDHIST NIHILISM 131 

BUDDHA'S DHAMMAPADA, OR "PATH OF VIRTUE." 

Introduction 151 

CHAPTER I. 
The Twin-verses 193 

CHAPTER H. 
On Reflection . 200 

CHAPTER HI. 
Thought 203 

CHAPTER IV. 
Flowers 207 

CHAPTER V. 
The Fool 211 

CHAPTER VI. 
The Wise Man 215 

CHAPTER Vn. 
The Venerable 219 

CHAPTER VHI. 
The Thousands 223 

CHAPTER IX. 
Evil 227 

CHAPTER X. 
Punishment ;- . . 230 



iv CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER XI. 
Old Age . . 235 

CHAPTER Xn. 
Self 238 

CHAPTER XIII. 
The World 241 

CHAPTER XIV. 
The Awakened (Buddha) 244 

CHAPTER XV. 
Happiness 249 

CHAPTER XVI. 
Pleasure 253 

CHAPTER XVII. 
Anger 256 

CHAPTER XVIII. 
Impurity ~. 259 

CHAPTER XIX. 
The Just . 264 

CHAPTER XX. 
The Wat 268 

CHAPTER XXI. 

Miscellaneous 272 

CHAPTER XXH. 
The Downward Course 276 

CHAPTER XXIII. 
The Elephant 279 

CHAPTER XXIV. 
Thirst 282 

CHAPTER XXV. 
The Bhikshu (Mendicant) 288 

CHAPTER XXVI. 
The Brahmana 293 



LECTURES ON 

THE SCIENCE OF EELIGION. 

By MAX MULLER, 

PROFESSOR OP COMPARATIVE PHILOLOGY IN THE UNIVERSITY OP 
OXFORD, ETC. 



FIRST LECTURE. 

DELIVERED AT THE ROYAL INSTITUTION, FEB. 19, 1870. 



WHEN I undertook for the first time to deliver a 
course of lectures in this Institution, I chose for 
my subject the Science of Language. What I then 
had at heart was to show to you, and to the world at 
large, that the comparative study of the principal lan- 
guages of mankind was based on principles sound and 
scientific, and that it had brought to light results which 
deserved a larger share of public interest than they had 
as yet received. I tried to convince, not only scholars 
by profession, but historians, theologians, and philoso- 
phers, nay everybody who had once felt the charm of 
gazing inwardly upon the secret workings of his own 
mind, veiled and revealed as they are in the flowing 
forms of language, that the discoveries made by com- 
parative philologists could no longer be ignored with 
impunity ; and I submitted that after the progress 
achieved in a scientific study of the principal branches 
of the vast realm of human speech, our new science, 
the Science of Language, might claim by right its seat 
at the round-table of the intellectual chivalry of our 
age. 

Such was the goodness of the cause I had then to 
defend, that, however imperfect my own pleading, the 
verdict of the public has been immediate and almost 



4 THE SCIENCE OF RELIGION. 

unanimous. During the years that have elapsed since 
the delivery of my first course of lectures, the Science 
of Language has had its full share of public recognition. 
Whether we look at the number of books that have 
been published for the advancement and elucidation of 
our science, or at the excellent articles in the daily, 
weekly, fortnightly, monthly, or quarterly reviews, or 
at the frequent notices of its results scattered about in 
works on philosophy, theology, and ancient history, 
we may well rest satisfied. The example set by 
France and Germany, in founding chairs of Sanskrit 
and Comparative Philology, has been followed of late 
in nearly all the universities of England, Ireland, and 
Scotland. We need not fear for the future of the Sci- 
ence of Language. A career so auspiciously begun, 
in spite of strong prejudices that had to be encountered, 
will lead on from year to year to greater triumphs. 
Our best public schools, if they have not done so al- 
ready, will soon have to follow the example set by the 
universities. It is but fair that school-boys who are 
made to devote so many hours every day to the labo- 
rious acquisition of languages, should now and then be 
taken by a safe guide to enjoy from a higher point of 
view that living panorama of human speech which has 
been surveyed and carefully mapped out by patient 
explorers and bold discoverers: nor is there any longer 
an excuse why, even in the most elementary lessons, 
nay I should say, why more particularly in these ele- 
mentary lessons, the dark and dreary passages of Greek 
and Latin, of French and German grammar, should 
not be lighted up by the electric light of Comparative 
Philology. When last year I travelled in Germany I 
found that lectures on Comparative Philology are now 
attended in the universities by all who study Greek 



FIKST LECTURE. 5 

and Latin. At Leipzig alone the lectures of the pro- 
fessor of Sanskrit were attended by more than fifty 
under-graduates, who first acquire that amount of 
knowledge of Sanskrit which is absolutely necessary 
before entering upon a study of Comparative Gram- 
mar. The introduction of Greek into the universities 
of Europe in the fifteenth century could hardly have 
caused a greater revolution than the discovery of San- 
skrit and the study of Comparative Philology in the 
nineteenth century. Very few indeed now take their 
degree of Master of Arts in Germany, or would be 
allowed to teach at a public school, without having 
been examined in the principles of Comparative Philol- 
ogy, nay in the elements of Sanskrit Grammar. Why 
should it be different in England ? The intellectual 
fibre, I know, is not different in the youth of England 
and in the youth of Germany, and if there is but a fair 
field and no favor, Comparative Philology, I feel con- 
vinced, will soon hold in England, too, that place which 
it ought to hold at every public school, in every uni- 
versity, and in every classical examination. 

In beginning to-day a course of lectures on the Sci- 
ence of Religion, — or I should rather say on some pre- 
liminary points that have to be settled before we can 
enter upon a truly scientific study of the religions of 
the world, — I feel as I felt when first pleading in this 
very place for the Science of Language. 

I know that I shall have to meet determined antag- 
onists who will deny the possibility of a scientific treat- 
ment of religions as they denied the possibility of a 
scientific treatment of languages. I foresee even a far 
more serious conflict with familiar prejudices and deep- 
rooted convictions ; but I feel at the same time that I 
am prepared to meet my antagonists ; and I have such 



6 THE SCIENCE OF KELIGION. 

faith in their honesty of purpose, that I doubt not of a 
patient and impartial hearing on their part, and of a 
verdict influenced by nothing but by the evidence that 
I shall have to place before them. 

In these our days it is almost impossible to speak of 
religion without giving offense either on the right or on 
the left. With some, religion seems too sacred a sub- 
ject for scientific treatment: with others it stands on a 
level with alchemy and astrology, a mere tissue of 
errors or hallucinations, far beneath the notice of the 
man of science. In a certain sense, I accept both these 
views. Religion is a sacred subject, and whether in 
its most perfect or in its most imperfect form, it has a 
right to our highest reverence. No one — this I can 
promise — who attends these lectures, be he Christian 
or Jew, Hindu or Mohammedan, shall hear his own way 
of serving God spoken of irreverently. But true rev- 
erence does not consist in declaring a subject, because 
it is dear to us, to be unfit for free and honest inquiry ; 
far from it! True reverence is shown in treating every 
subject, however sacred, however dear to us, with per- 
fect confidence ; without fear and without favor ; with 
tenderness and love, by all means, but, before all, with 
an unflinching and uncompromising loyalty to truth. 
I also admit that religion has stood in former ages, and 
stands even in our own age, if we look abroad, aye, 
even if we look into some dark places at home, on a 
level with alchemy and astrology; but for the dis- 
covery of truth there is nothing so useful as the study 
of errors, and w r e know that in alchemy there lay the 
seed of chemistry, and that astrology was more or less 
a yearning and groping after the true science of as- 
tronomy. 

But although I shall be most careful to avoid giving 



FIRST LECTURE. 7 

offense, I know perfectly well that many a statement 
I shall have to make, and many an opinion I shall have 
to express, will sound strange and startling to some of 
my hearers. The very title of the Science of Religion 
jars on the ears of many persons, and a comparison of 
all the religions of the world, in which none can claim 
a privileged position, must seem to many reprehensible 
in itself, because ignoring that peculiar reverence which 
everybody, down to the mere fetich worshipper, feels 
for his oivn religion and for his own God. Let me say 
then at once that I myself have shared these misgiv- 
ings, but that I have tried to overcome them, because 
I would not and could not allow myself to surrender 
either what I hold to be the truth, or what I hold still 
dearer than the truth, the right tests of truth. Nor do 
I regret it. I do not say that the Science of Religion 
is all gain. No ; it entails losses, and losses of many 
things which we hold dear. But this I will say, that, 
as far as my humble judgment goes, it does not entail 
the loss of anything that is essential to true religion, 
and that if we strike the balance honestly, the gain is 
immeasurably greater than the loss. 

One of the first questions that was asked by classical 
scholars when invited to consider the value of the Sci- 
ence of Language, was, " What shall we gain by a com- 
parative study of languages?" Languages, it was said, 
are wanted for practical purposes, for speaking and 
reading ; and by studying too many languages at once, 
we run the risk of losing the firm grasp which we 
ought to have on the few that are really important. 
Our knowledge, by becoming wider, must needs, it 
was thought, become shallower, and the gain, if there 
is any, in knowing the structure of dialects which have 
never produced any literature at all, would certainly 



8 THE SCIENCE OP RELIGION. 

be outweighed by the loss in accurate and practical 
scholarship. 

If this could be said of a comparative study of lan- 
guages, with how much greater force will it be urged 
against a comparative study of religions ! Though I 
do not expect that those who study the religious books 
of Brahmans and Buddhists, of Confucius and Lao-tse, 
of Mohammed and Nanak, will be accused of cherish- 
ing in their secret heart the doctrines of those ancient 
masters, or of having lost the firm hold on their own 
religious convictions, yet I doubt whether the practical 
utility of wider studies in the vast field of the religions 
of the world will be admitted with greater readiness 
by professed theologians than the value of a knowledge 
of Sanskrit, Zend, Gothic, or Celtic for a thorough 
mastery of Greek and Latin, and for a real apprecia- 
tion of the nature, the purpose, the laws, the growth 
and decay of language was admitted, or is even now 
admitted, by some of our most eminent professors and 
teachers. 

People ask, What is gained by comparison? Why, 
all higher knowledge is gained by comparison, and rests 
on comparison. If it is said that the character of scien- 
tific research in our age is preeminently comparative ; 
this really means that our researches are now based on 
the widest evidence that can be obtained, on the broad- 
est inductions that can be grasped by the human mind. 
What can be gained by comparison ? Wh^, look at 
the study of languages. If you go back but a hun- 
dred years and examine the folios of the most learned 
writers upon questions connected with language, and 
then open a book written by the merest tyro in Com- 
parative Philology, you will see what can be gained, 
what has been gained, by the comparative method. 



FIRST LECTURE. 9 

A few hundred years ago, the idea that Hebrew was 
the original language of mankind was accepted as a 
matter of course, even as a matter of faith, the only 
problem being to find out by what process Greek, or 
Latin, or any other language could have been devel- 
oped out of Hebrew. The idea, too, that language 
was revealed, in the scholastic sense of that word, was 
generally accepted, although, as early as the fourth 
century, St. Gregory, the learned Bishop of Nyssa, 
had strongly protested against it. The grammatical 
frame-work of a language was either considered as the 
result of a conventional agreement, or the terminations 
of nouns and verbs were supposed to have sprouted 
forth like buds from the roots and stems of language ; 
and the vaguest similarity in the sound and meaning 
of words was taken to be a sufficient criterion for test- 
ing their origin and their relationship. Of all this 
philological somnambulism we hardly find a trace in 
works published since the days of Humboldt, Bopp, 
and Grimm. Has there been any loss here ? Has it 
not been pure gain ? Does language excite admiration 
less because we know that, though the faculty of speak- 
ing is the work of Him who has so framed our nature, 
the invention of words for naming each object was left 
to man, and was achieved through the working of the 
human mind ? Is Hebrew less carefully studied be- 
cause it is no longer believed to be a revealed language 
sent do\#i from heaven, but a language closely allied 
to Arabic, Syriac, and ancient Babylonian, and receiv- 
ing light from these cognate, and in some respects 
more primitive languages, for the explanation of many 
of its grammatical forms, and for the exact interpreta- 
tion of many of its obscure and difficult words ? Is the 
grammatical articulation of Greek and Latin less in- 



10 THE SCIENCE OF RELIGION. 

structive because, instead of seeing in the termination 
of nouns and verbs merely arbitrary signs to distin- 
guish the singular from the plural, or the present from 
the future, we can now perceive an intelligible princi- 
ple in the gradual production of formal out of the ma- 
terial elements of language ? And are our etymolo- 
gies less important because, instead of being suggested 
by superficial similarities, they are now based on honest 
historical and physiological research ? Lastly, has our 
own language ceased to hold its own peculiar place ? 
Is our love for our own native tongue at all impaired ? 
Do men speak less boldly or pray less fervently in their 
own mother-tongue, because they know its true origin 
and its unadorned history ; or because they have dis- 
covered that in all languages, even in the jargons of 
the lowest savages, there is order and wisdom ; there 
is in them something that makes the world akin ? 

Why, then, should we hesitate to apply the compar- 
ative method, which has produced such great results 
in other spheres of knowledge, to a study of religion ? 
That it will change many of the views commonly held 
about the origin, the character, the growth, and decay 
of the religions of the world, I do not deny ; but un- 
less we hold that fearless progression in new inquiries, 
which is our bounden duty and our honest pride in all 
other branches of knowledge, is dangerous in the study 
of religions, unless we allow ourselves to be frightened 
by the once famous dictum, that whatever is new in 
theology is false, this ought to be the very reason why 
a comparative study of religions should no longer be 
neglected or delayed. 

When the students of Comparative Philology boldly 
adopted Goethe's paradox, " He who knows one lan- 
guage, Jcnoivs none; " people were startled at first, but 



FIRST LECTURE. 11 

they soon began to feel the truth which was hidden 
beneath the paradox. Could Goethe have meant that 
Homer did not know Greek, or that Shakespeare did 
not know English, because neither of them knew more 
than his own mother-tongue ? No ! what was meant 
was that neither Homer nor Shakespeare knew what 
that language really was which he handled with so 
much power and cunning. Unfortunately the old 
verb " to can," from which " canny" and " cunning," 
is lost in English, otherwise we should be able in two 
words to express our meaning, and to keep apart the 
two kinds of knowledge of which we are here speak- 
ing. As we say in German konnen is not kennen, we 
might say in English to can, that is to be cunning, is 
not to ken, that is to know ; and it would then become 
clear at once, that the most eloquent speaker and the 
most gifted poet, with all their command of words and 
skillful mastery of expression, would have but little to 
say if asked what language really is! The same ap- 
plies to religion. He who knows one, knows none. 
There are thousands of people whose faith is such that 
it could move mountains, and who yet, if they were 
asked what religion really is, would remain silent, or 
would speak of outward tokens rather than of the in- 
ward nature, or of the faculty of faith. 

It will easily be perceived that religion means at 
least two very different things. When we speak of 
the Jewish, or the Christian, or the Hindu religion, 
we mean a body of doctrines handed down by tradi- 
tion, or in canonical books, and containing all that con- 
stitutes the faith of Jew, Christian, or Hindu. Using 
religion in that sense, we may say that a man has 
changed his religion, that is, that he has adopted the 
Christian instead of the Brahmanical body of religious 



12 THE SCIENCE OF RELIGION. 

doctrines, just as a man may learn to speak English 
instead of Hindustani. But religion is also used in a 
different sense. As there is a faculty of speech, inde- 
pendent of all the historical forms of language, so we 
may speak of a faculty of faith in man, independent 
of all historical religions. If we say that it is religion 
which distinguishes man from the animal, we do not 
mean the Christian or Jewish religions only ; we do 
not mean any special religion, but we mean a mental 
faculty, that faculty which, independent of, nay in 
spite of sense and reason, enables man to apprehend 
the Infinite under varying disguises. Without that 
faculty, no religion, not even the lowest worship of 
idols and fetiches, would be possible ; and if we will 
but listen attentively, we can hear in all religions a 
groaning of the spirit, a struggle to conceive the in- 
conceivable, to utter the unutterable, a longing after 
the Infinite, a love of God. Whether the etymology 
which the ancients gave of the Greek word avOpw-n-os, 
man, be true or not (they derived it from 6 avo> aOpuv, 
he who looks upward) : certain it is that what makes 
man to be man, is that he alone can turn his face to 
heaven ; certain it is that he alone yearns for some- 
thing that neither sense nor reason can supply. 

If then there is a philosophical discipline which ex- 
amines into the conditions of sensuous perception, and 
if there is another philosophical discipline which ex- 
amines into the conditions of rational conception, there 
is clearly a place for a third philosophical discipline 
that has to examine into the conditions of that third 
faculty of man, coordinate with sense and reason, the 
faculty of perceiving the Infinite, which is at the root 
of all religions. In German we can distinguish that 
third faculty by the name of Vernuft, as opposed to 



FIRST LECTURE. IS 

Ver stand, reason, and Sinne, sense. In English I 
know no better name for it than the faculty of faith, 
though it will have to be guarded by careful definition, 
and to be restricted to those objects only, which cannot 
be supplied either by the evidence of the senses, or by 
the evidence of reason. No simply historical fact can 
ever fall under the cognizance of faith. 

If we look at the history of modern thought, we 
find that the dominant school of philosophy, previous 
to Kant, had reduced all intellectual activity to one 
faculty, that of the senses. " Nihil in intellectu quod 
non ante fuerit in sensu," " Nothing exists in the in- 
tellect but what has before existed in the senses," was 
their watch-word ; and Leibnitz answered it epigram- 
matically, but most profoundly, " Nihil — nisi intel- 
lectus." "Yes, nothing but the intellect." Then 
followed Kant, who, in his great work written ninety 
years ago, but not yet antiquated, proved jii at our 
knowledge requires the admission of two independent 
faculties, the intuitions of the senses, and the cate- 
gories, or, as we might call them, the necessities of 
reason. But satisfied with having established the in- 
dependent faculty of reason, as coordinate with the 
faculty of sense, or, to use his own technical language, 
satisfied with having proved the possibility of apodictic 
judgments a priori, Kant declined to go further, and 
denied to the intellect the power of transcending the 
finite, the faculty of approaching the Divine. He 
closed the ancient gates through which man had gazed 
into Infinity, but, in spite of himself, he was driven, in 
his " Critique of Practical Reason," to open a side-door 
through which to admit the sense of the Divine. This 
is the vulnerable point in Kant's philosophy, and if 
philosophy has to explain what is, not what ought to 



14 THE SCIENCE OF RELIGION. 

be, there will be and can be no rest till we admit, 
what cannot be denied, that there is in man a third 
faculty, which I call simply the faculty of apprehend- 
ing the Infinite, not only in religion, but in all things ; 
a power independent of sense and reason, a power in 
a certain sense contradicted by sense and reason, but 
yet, I suppose, a very real power, if we see how it 
has held its own from the beginning of the world, how 
neither sense nor reason have been able to overcome 
it, while it alone is able to overcome both reason and 
sense. 

According to the two meanings of the word relig- 

o tr> o 

ion, then, the science of religion is divided into two 
parts ; the former, which has to deal with the histori- 
cal forms of religion, is called Comparative theology ; 
the latter, which has to explain the conditions under 
which religion, in its highest or lowest form, is possi- 
ble, is called Theoretic theology. 

We shall at present have to deal with the former 
only ; nay, it will be my object to show that the prob- 
lems which chiefly occupy theoretic theology, ought 
not to be taken up till all the evidence that can possi- 
bly be gained from a comparative study of the relig- 
ions of the world has been fully collected, classified, 
and analyzed. 

It may seem strange that while theoretical theology, 
or the analysis of the inward and outward conditions 
under which faith is possible, has occupied. so many 
thinkers, the study of comparative theology has never 
as yet been seriously taken in hand. But the expla- 
nation is very simple. The materials on which alone 
a comparative study of the religions of mankind could 
have been founded were not accessible in former days, 
while in our own days they have come to light in such 



FIRST LECTURE. 15 

profusion as almost to challenge these more compre- 
hensive inquiries in a voice that cannot be disobeyed. 

It is well known that the Emperor Akbar had a pas- 
sion for the study of religions, so that he invited to his 
court Jews, Christians, Mohammedans, Brahmans, and 
Fire -worshippers, and had as many of their sacred 
books as he could get access to, translated for his own 
study. Yet, how small was the collection of sacred 
books that even an emperor of India could command 
not more than two hundred and fifty years ago, com- 
pared to what may now be found in the library of 
every poor scholar! We have the original text of the 
Veda, which neither the bribes nor the threats of Ak- 
bar could extort from the Brahmans. The translation 
of the Veda which he is said to have obtained, was a 
translation of the so-called Atharva-veda, and com- 
prised most likely the Upanishads only, mystic and phi- 
losophical treatises, very interesting, very important in 
themselves, but as far removed from the ancient poetry 
of the Veda as the Talmud is from the Old Testament, 
as Sufiism is from the Koran. We have the Zend- 
avesta, the sacred writings of the so-called fire-worship- 
pers, and we possess the translation of it, far more 
complete and far more correct than any that the Em- 
peror Akbar could have obtained. The religion of 
Buddha, certainly in many respects more important 
than either Brahmanism, or Zoroastrianism, or Moham- 
medanism, is never mentioned in the religious discus- 
sions that took place one evening in every week at the 
imperial court of Delhi. Abufazl, it is said, the minis- 
ter of Akbar, could find no one to assist him in his in- 
quiries respecting Buddhism. We possess the whole 
sacred canon of the Buddhists in various languages, in 
Pali, in Sanskrit, in Burmese, Siamese, Tibetan, Mon- 



16 THE SCIENCE OF RELIGION. 

golian, and Chinese, and it is our fault entirely, if as 
yet there is no complete translation in any European 
tongue of this important collection of sacred books. 
The ancient religions of China again, that of Confu- 
cius and that of Laotse, may now be studied in excel- 
lent translations of their sacred books by anybody in- 
terested in the ancient faith of mankind. 

But this is not all. We owe to missionaries particu- 
larly, careful accounts of the religious belief and wor- 
ship among tribes far lower in the scale of civilization 
than the poets of the Vedic hymns, or the followers of 
Confucius. Though the belief of African and Mela- 
nesian savages is more recent in point of time, it repre- 
sents an earlier and far more primitive phase in point 
of growth, and is therefore as instructive to the student 
of religion as the study of uncultivated dialects has 
proved to the student of language. 

Lastly, and this, I believe, is the most important 
advantage which we enjoy as students of the history 
of religion, we have been taught the rules of crit- 
ical scholarship. No one would venture nowadays, to 
quote from any book, whether sacred or profane, with- 
out having asked these simple and yet momentous 
questions : When was it written ? Where ? and by 
whom ? Was the author an eye-witness, or does he 
only relate what he has heard from others ? And if 
the latter, were his authorities at least contemporane- 
ous with the events which they relate, and were they 
under the sway of party feeling or any other disturbing 
influence ? Was the whole book written at once, or 
does it contain portions of an earlier date ; and if so, 
is it possible for us to separate these earlier documents 
from the body of the book ? 

A study of the original documents on which the 



FIRST LECTURE. 17 

principal religions of the world profess to be founded, 
carried out in this spirit, has enabled some of our best 
living scholars to distinguish in each religion between 
what is really ancient and what is comparatively mod- 
ern ; what was the doctrine of the founders and their 
immediate disciples, and what were the afterthoughts 
and, generally, the corruptions of later ages. A study 
of these later developments, of these later corruptions, 
or, it may be, improvements, is not without its own pe- 
culiar charms, and full of practical lessons ; yet, as it 
is essential that we should know the most ancient forms 
of every language, before we proceed to any compari- 
sons, it is indispensable that we should have a clear 
conception of the most primitive form of every religion 
before we proceed to determine its own value, and to 
compare it with other forms of religious faith. Many 
an orthodox Mohammedan, for instance, will relate 
miracles wrought by Mohammed ; but in the Koran 
Mohammed says distinctly, that he is a man like other 
men. He disdains to work miracles, and appeals to 
the great works of Allah, the rising and setting of the 
sun, the rain that fructifies the earth, the plants that 
grow, and the living souls that are born into the world, 
— who can tell whence ? — as the real signs and won- 
ders in the eyes of a true believer. 

The Buddhist legends teem with miserable miracles 
attributed to Buddha and his disciples — miracles which 
in wonderfulness certainly surpass the miracles of any 
other religion : yet in their own sacred canon a saying 
of Buddha's is recorded, prohibiting his disciples from 
working miracles, though challenged by the multi- 
tudes who required a sign that they might believe. 
And what is the miracle that Buddha commands his 
disciples to perforin ? " Hide your good deeds," he 



18 THE SCIENCE OF RELIGION. 

says, " and confess before the world the sins you have 
committed." 

Modern Hinduism rests on the system of caste as 
on a rock which no arguments can shake ; but in the 
Veda, the highest authority of the religious belief of 
the Hindus, no mention occurs of the complicated sys- 
tem of castes, such as we find it in Manu: nay, in one 
place, where the ordinary classes of the Indian, or any 
other society, are alluded to, namely, the priests, the 
warriors, the citizens, and the slaves, all are represented 
as sprung alike from Brahman, the source of all being. 

It would be too much to say that the critical sifting 
of the authorities for a study of each religion has been 
already fully carried out. There is work enough still 
to be done. But a beginning, and a very successful 
beginning, has been made, and the results thus brought 
to light will serve as a wholesome caution to everybody 
who is engaged in religious researches. Thus, if we 
study the primitive religion of the Veda, we have to 
distinguish most carefully, not only between the hymns 
of the Rig-veda on one side, and the hymns collected 
in the Sama-veda, Ya^ur-veda, and Atharva-veda on 
the other, but critical scholars would distinguish with 
equal care between the more ancient and the more 
modern hymns of the Rig-veda, as far as even the 
faintest indications of language, of grammar, or metre 
enable them to do so. 

In order to gain a clear insight into the motives and 
impulses of the founder of the worship of Ahura- 
mazda, we must chiefly, if not entirely, depend on 
those portions of the Zendavesta which are written in 
the Gatha dialect, a more primitive dialect than that of 
the rest of the sacred code of the Zoroastrians. 

In order to do justice to Buddha, we must not mix 



FIRST LECTURE. 19 

the practical portions of the Tripi£aka, the Dharma, 
with the metaphysical portions, the Abhidharma. Both, 
it is true, belong to the sacred canon of the Buddhists ; 
but their original sources lie in very different latitudes 
of religious thought. 

We have in the history of Buddhism an excellent 
opportunity for watching the process by which a canon 
of sacred books is called into existence. We see here, 
as elsewhere, that during the life-time of the teacher, no 
record of events, no sacred code containing the sayings 
of the master was wanted. His presence was enough, 
and thoughts of the future, and more particularly of 
future greatness, seldom entered the minds of those 
who followed him. It was only after Buddha had left 
the world to enter into Nirvana, that his disciples at- 
tempted to recall the sayings and doings of their de- 
parted friend and master. At that time everything 
that seemed to redound to the glory of Buddha, how- 
ever extraordinary and incredible, was eagerly wel- 
comed, while witnesses who would have ventured to 
criticise or reject unsupported statements, or to detract 
in any way from the holy character of Buddha, had no 
chance of even being listened to. And when, in spite 
of all this, differences of opinion arose, they were not 
brought to the test bv a careful weighing of evidence, 
but the names of " unbeliever " and " heretic " (nas- 
tika, pashawc?a) were quickly invented in India as else- 
where, and bandied backwards and forwards between 
contending parties, till at last, when the doctors disa- 
greed, the help of the secular power had to be invoked, 
and kings and emperors convoked councils for the sup- 
pression of schism, for the settlement of an orthodox 
creed, and for the completion of a sacred canon. We 
know of King Asoka, the contemporary of Seleucus, 



20 THE SCIENCE OF RELIGION. 

sending his royal missive to the assembled elders, and 
telling them what to do, and what to avoid, warning 
them also in his own name of the apocryphal or heret- 
ical character of certain books which, as he thinks, 
ought not to be admitted into the sacred canon. 

We here learn a lesson, which is confirmed by the 
study of other religions, that canonical books, though 
they furnish in most cases the most ancient and most 
authentic information within the reach of the student 
of religion, are not to be trusted implicitly, nay, that 
they must be submitted to a more searching criticism 
and to more stringent tests than any other historical 
books. For that purpose the Science of Language 
has proved in many cases a most valuable auxiliary. 
It is not easy to imitate ancient language so as to de- 
ceive the practiced eye of the grammarian, even if it 
were possible to imitate ancient thought that should 
not betray to the historian its modern origin. A forged 
book, like the Ezour Veda, which deceived even Vol- 
taire, and was published by him as " the most precious 
gift for which the West was indebted to the East,' 
could hardly impose again on any Sanskrit scholar of 
the present day. This most precious gift from the 
East to the West, is about the silliest book that can be 
read by the student of religion, and all one can say in 
its defense is that the original writer never meant it 
as a forgery, never intended it for the purpose for 
which it was used by Voltaire. I may add that a 
book which has lately attracted considerable attention, 
" La Bible dans l'lnde," by M. Jacolliot, belongs to the 
same class of books. Though the passages from the 
sacred books of the Brahmans are not given in the 
original, but only in a very poetical French translation, 
no Sanskrit scholar would hesitate for one moment to 



FIRST LECTURE. 21 

say that they are forgeries, and that M. Jacolliot, the 

President of the Court of Justice at Chandernagore, 

has been deceived by his native teacher. We find 

many childish and foolish things in the Veda, but when 

we read the following line, as an extract from the 

Veda : - 

La femme c'est l'ame de l'humamte, — 

it is not difficult to see that this is the folly of the nine- 
teenth century, and not of the childhood of the human 
race. M. Jacolliot's conclusions and theories are such 
as might be expected from his materials. 

With all the genuine documents for studying the 
history of the religions of mankind that have lately 
been brought to light, and with the great facilities 
which a more extensive study of Oriental languages 
has afforded to scholars at large for investigating the 
deepest springs of religious thought all over the world, 
a comparative study of religions has become a neces- 
sity. A science of religion, based on a comparison of 
all, or, at all events, of the most important religions of 
mankind, is now only a question of time. It is de- 
manded by those whose voice cannot be disregarded. 
Its title, though implying as yet a promise rather than 
a fulfillment, has become more or less familiar in Ger- 
many, France, and America ; its great problems have 
attracted the eyes of many inquirers, and its results 
have been anticipated either with fear or delight. It 
becomes the duty of those who have devoted their life 
to the study of the principal religions of the world in 
their original documents, and who value religion and 
reverence it in whatever form it may present itself, to 
take possession of this new territory in the name of 
true science, and thus to protect its sacred precincts 
from the inroads of mere babblers. Those who would 



22 THE SCIENCE OF RELIGION. 

use a comparative study of religions as a means for 
debasing Christianity by exalting the other religions 
of mankind, are to my mind as dangerous allies as 
those who think it necessary to debase all other relig- 
ions in order to exalt Christianity. Science wants no 
partisans. I make no secret that true Christianity 
seems to me to become more and more exalted the 
more we appreciate the treasures of truth hidden in 
the despised religions of the world. But no one can 
honestly arrive at that conviction, unless he uses hon- 
estly the same measure for all religions. It would be 
fatal for any religion to claim an exceptional treatment, 
most of all for Christianity. Christianity enjoyed no 
privileges and claimed no immunities when it boldly 
confronted and confounded the most ancient and the 
most powerful religions of the world. Even at present 
it craves no mercy, and it receives no mercy from 
those whom our missionaries have to meet face to face 
in every part of the world ; and unless our religion 
has ceased to be what it was, its defenders should not 
shrink from this new trial of strength, but should en- 
courage rather than depreciate the study of compara- 
tive theology. 

And let me remark this, in the very beginning, that 
no other religion, with the exception, perhaps, of early 
Buddhism, would have favored the idea of an impartial 
comparison of the principal religions of the world — 
would have tolerated our science. Nearly every relig- 
ion seems to adopt the language of the Pharisee rather 
than of the publican. It is Christianity alone which, 
as the religion of humanity, as the religion of no caste, 
of no chosen people, has taught us to respect the his- 
tory of humanity, as a whole, to discover the traces of 
a divine wisdom and love in the government of all the 



FIRST LECTURE. 23 

races of mankind, and to recognize, if possible, even in 
the lowest and crudest forms of religious belief, not 
the work of demoniacal agencies, but something that 
indicates a divine guidance, something that makes us 
perceive, with St. Peter, " that God is no respecter of 
persons, but that in every nation lie that feareth Him 
and worketh righteousness is accepted with Him." 

In no religion was there a soil so well prepared for 
the cultivation of Comparative Theology as in our own. 
The position which Christianity from the very begin- 
ning took up with regard to Judaism, served as the 
first lesson in comparative theology, and directed the 
attention, even of the unlearned, to a comparison of 
two religions, differing in their conception of the Deity, 
in their estimate of humanity, in their motives of mo- 
rality, and in their hope of immortality, yet sharing so 
much in common that there are but few of the psalms 
and prayers in the Old Testament in which a Christian 
cannot heartily join even now, and but few rules of 
morality which he ought not even now to obey. If 
we have once learned to see in the exclusive religion of 
the Jews a preparation of what was to be the all-em- 
bracing religion of humanity, we shall feel much less 
difficulty in recognizing in the mazes of other religions 
a hidden purpose ; a wandering in the desert, it may 
be, but a preparation also for the land of promise. 

A study of these two religions, th# Jewish and the 
Christian, such as it has long been carried on by some 
of our most learned divines, simultaneously with the 
study of Greek and Roman mythology, has, in fact, 
served as a most useful preparation for wider inquiries. 
Even the mistakes that have been committed by ear- 
lier scholars have proved useful to those who followed 
after ; and, once corrected, they are not likely to be 



24 THE SCIENCE OF EELIGION. 

committed again. The opinion, for instance, that the 
pagan religions were mere corruptions of the religion 
of the Old Testament, once supported by men of high 
authority and great learning, is now as completely 
surrendered as the attempts of explaining Greek and 
Latin as corruptions of Hebrew. The theory again, 
that there was a primeval preternatural revelation 
granted to the fathers of the human race, and that the 
grains of truth which catch our eye when exploring 
the temples of heathen idols, are the scattered frag- 
ments of that sacred heirloom, — the seeds that fell by 
the way-side or upon stony places, — would find but 
few supporters at present ; no more, in fact, than the 
theory that there was in the beginning one complete 
and perfect primeval language, broken up in later 
times into the numberless languages f t] ie WO rld. 

Some other principles, too, have been established 
within this limited sphere by a comparison of Judaism 
and Christianity with the religions of Greece and 
Rome, which will prove extremely useful in guiding 
us in our own researches. It has been proved, for 
instance, that the language of antiquity is not like the 
language of our own times ; that the language of the 
East is not like the language of the West ; and that, 
unless we make allowance for this, we cannot but 
misinterpret the utterances of the most ancient teach- 
ers and poets of We human race. The same words do 
not mean the same thing in Anglo-Saxon and English, 
in Latin and French : much less can we expect that 
the words of any modern language should be the exact 
equivalents of an ancient Semitic language, such as 
the Hebrew of the Old Testament. 

Ancient words and ancient thoughts, for both go 
together, have not yet arrived at that stage of abstrac- 



FIRST LECTURE. 25 

tion in which, for instance, active powers, whether nat- 
ural or supernatural, can be represented in any but a 
personal and more or less human form. When we 
speak of a temptation from within or from without, it 
was more natural for the ancients to speak of a tempter, 
whether in a human or in an animal form ; when we 
speak of the ever-present help of God, they call the 
Lord their rock, and their fortress, their buckler, and 
their high tower ; what with us is a heavenly message, 
or a godsend, was to them a winged messenger ; what 
we call divine guidance, they speak of as a pillar of a 
cloud to lead them the way, and a pillar of light to 
give them light; a refuge from the storm, and a shadow 
from the heat. What is really meant is no doubt the 
same, and the fault is ours, not theirs, if we willfully 
misinterpret the language of ancient prophets, if we 
persist in understanding their words in their outward 
and material aspect only, and forget that before lan- 
guage had sanctioned a distinction between the con- 
crete and the abstract, between the purely spiritual as 
opposed to the coarsely material, the intention of the 
speakers comprehends both the concrete and the ab- 
stract, both the material and the spiritual, in a manner 
which has become quite strange to us, though it lives 
on in the language of every true poet. Unless we 
make allowance for this mental parallax, all our read- 
ings in the ancient skies will be, and must be errone- 
ous. Nay, I believe it can be proved that more than 
half of the difficulties in the historv of religious thought 
owe their origin to this constant misinterpretion of an- 
cient language by modern language, of ancient thought 
by modern thought. 

That much of what seems to us, and seemed to the 
best among the ancients, irrational and irreverent in 



26 THE SCIENCE OF RELIGION. 

the mythologies of India, Greece, and Italy, can thus 
be removed, and that many of their childish fables can 

thus be read again in their original child-like sense, 

© © » 

has been proved by the researches of Comparative My- 
thologists. The phase of language which gives rise, 
inevitably, we may say, to these misunderstandings, 
is earlier than the earliest literary documents. Its 
w T ork in the Aryan languages was done before the time 
of the Veda, before the time of Homer, though its 
influence continues to be felt to a much later period. 

Is it likely that the Semitic languages, and, more 
particularly, Hebrew, should, as by a miracle, have 
escaped the influence of a process which is inherent in 
the very nature and growth of language, which, in fact, 
may rightly be called an infantine disease, against 
which no precautions can be of any avail ? 

And if it is not, are we likely to lose anything if we 
try to get at the most ancient, the most original inten- 
tion of sacred traditions, instead of being satisfied with 
* © 

their later aspect, their modern misinterpretations ? 
Have we lost anything if, while reading the story of 
Hephaestos splitting open with his axe the head of 
Zeus, and Athene springing from it full armed, we per- 
ceive behind this savage imagery, Zeus as the bright 
Sky, his forehead as the East, Hephaestos as the young, 
not yet risen Sun, and Athene as the Dawn, the daugh- 
ter of the Sky, stepping forth from the fountain-head 
of light — 

rA.av/<tu7ris, with eyes like an owl (and beautiful they 
are) ; 

HapOevos, pure as a virgin ; 

Xpvaea, the golden ; 

'AKpta, lighting up the tops of the mountains, and her 
own glorious Parthenon in her own favorite town of 
Athens ; 



FIRST LECTURE. 27 

IlaAAas, whirling the shafts of light ; 

'AAe'a, the genial warmth of the morning ; 

ILoo//.axos, the foremost champion in the battle be- 
tween night and day ; 

LTai/oTrAos, in full armor, in her panoply of light, driv- 
ing away the darkness of night, and awakening men to 
a bright life, to bright thoughts, to bright endeavors. 

Would the Greeks have had less reverence for their 
gods if, instead of believing that Apollo and Artemis 
murdered the twelve children of Niobe, they had per- 
ceived that Niobe was, in a former period of language, 
a name of snow and winter, and that no more was in- 
tended by the ancient poet than that Apollo and Arte- 
mis, the vernal deities, must slay every year with their 
darts the brilliant and beautiful but doomed children 
of the Snow? Is it not something worth knowing, 
worth knowing even to us after the lapse of four or five 
thousand years, that before the separation of the Aryan 
race, before the existence of Sanskrit, Greek, or Latin, 
before the gods of the Veda had been worshipped, and 
before there was a sanctuary of Zeus among the sacred 
oaks of Dodona, one supreme deity had been found, 
had been named, had been invoked by the ancestors of 
our race, and had been invoked by a name which has 
never been excelled by any other name ? 

No; if a critical examination of the ancient language 
of the Jews leads to no worse results than those which 
have followed from a careful interpretation of the pet- 
rified language of ancient India and Greece, we need 
not fear ; we shall be gainers, not losers. Like an old 
precious medal, the ancient religion, after the rust of 
ages las been removed, will come out in all its purity 
and brightness ; and the image which it discloses will 
be the image of the Father, the Father of all the na- 



28 THE SCIENCE OF RELIGION. 

tions upon earth ; and the superscription, when we can 
read it again, will be, not only in Judasa, but in the 
languages of all the races of the world, the Word of 
God, revealed, where alone it can be revealed, — re- 
vealed in the heart of man. 



SECOND LECTURE. 



^TIHERE is no lack of materials, and there is abun- 
*- dance of work for the student of the Science of 
Religion. It is true that, compared with the number 
of languages which the comparative philologist has to 
deal with, the number of religions is small. In a com- 
parative study of languages, however, we find most of 
our materials ready for use ; we possess grammars and 
dictionaries. But where are we to look for the gram- 
mars and dictionaries of the principal religions of the 
world ? Not in the catechisms or the articles, not 
even in the so-called creeds or confessions of faith 
which, if they do not give us an actual misrepresenta- 
tion of the doctrines which they profess to epitomize, 
give us always the shadow only, and never the soul 
and substance of a religion. But how seldom do we 
find even such helps ! 

Among Eastern nations it is not unusual to distin- 
guish between religions that are founded on a book, 
and others that have no such vouchers to produce. 
The former are considered more respectable, and, 
though they may contain false doctrine, they are looked 
upon as a kind of aristocracy among the vulgar and 
nondescript crowd of bookless or illiterate religions. 

To the student of religion canonical books are, no 
doubt, of the utmost importance, though he ought 
never to forget that nearly all canonical books give the 
reflected image only of the real doctrines of the foun- 



30 THE SCIENCE OF RELIGION. 

der of a new religion, an image always blurred and 
distorted by the medium through which it had to pass. 
But how few are the religions which possess even a 
sacred canon, how small is the aristocracy of real book- 
religions in the history of the world ! Let us look at 
the two families that have been the principal actors in 
that great drama which we call the history of the 
world, the Aryan and the Semitic, and we shall find 
that two members only of each family can claim the 
possession of a sacred code. Among the Aryans, the 
Hindus and the Persians ; among the Shemites, the 
Hebrews and the Arabs. In the Aryan family the 
Hindus, in the Semitic family the Hebrews, have each 
produced two book-religions ; the Hindus have given 
rise to Brahmanism and Buddhism ; the Hebrews to 
Mosaism and Christianity. Nay, it is important to 
observe that in each family the third book-religion can 
hardly lay claim to an independent origin, but is only 
a weaker repetition of the first. Zoroastrianism has 
its sources in the same stratum which fed the deeper 
and broader stream of Vedic religion ; Mohammedan^ 
ism springs, as far as its most vital doctrines are con- 
cerned, from the ancient fountain-head of the religion 
of Abraham, the worshipper and the friend of the one 
true God. If you keep before your mind the forego- 
ing simple outline, you can see the river system in 
which the religious thought of the Aryan and the 
Semitic nations has been running for centuries, — of 
those, at least, who are in possession of sacred and 
canonical books. 

While Buddhism is the direct offspring, and, at the 
same time the antagonist of Brahmanism, Zoroastrian- 
ism is rather a deviation from the straight course of 
ancient Vedic faith, though it likewise contains a pro- , 



SECOND LECTURE. 31 

test against some of the doctrines of the earliest wor- 
shippers of the Vedic gods. The same, or nearly the 
same relationship holds together the three principal 
religions of the Semitic stock, only that, chronolog- 
ically, Mohammedanism is later than Christianity, 
while Zoroastrianism is earlier than Buddhism. 

Observe also another, and, as w r e shall see, by no 
means accidental coincidence in the parallel ramifica- 
tions of these two religious stems. 

Buddhism, which is the offspring of, but at the same 
time marks a reaction against the ancient Brahmanism 
of India, withered away after a time on the soil from 
which it had sprung, and assumed its real importance 
only after it had been transplanted from India, and 
struck root among Turanian nations in the very centre 
of the Asiatic continent. Buddhism, being at its birth 
an Aryan religion, ended by becoming the principal 
religion of the Turanian world. 

The same transference took place in the second 
stem. Christianity, being the offspring of Mosaism, 
was rejected by the Jews as Buddhism was by the 
Brahmans. It failed to fullfil its purpose as a mere 
reform of the ancient Jewish religion, and not till it 
had been transferred from Semitic to Aryan ground, 
from the Jews to the Gentiles, did it develop its real 
nature and assume its world-wide importance. Hav- 
ing been at its birth a Semitic religion, it became the 
principal religion of the Aryan world. 

There is one other nation only, outside the pale of 
the Aryan and Semitic families, which can claim one, 
or even two book-religions as its own. China became 
the mother, at almost the same time, of two religions, 
each founded on a sacred code, — the religion of Con- 
fucius, and the religion of Lao-tse, the former resting 



32 THE SCIENCE OF RELIGION. 

on the Five King and the Four Shu, and the latter on 
the Tao-te-king. 

With these eight religions the library of the Sacred 
Books of the whole human race is complete, and an 
accurate study of these eight codes, written in Sanskrit, 
Pali, and Zend, in Hebrew, Greek, and Arabic, lastly 
in Chinese, might in itself not seem too formidable an 
undertaking for a single scholar. Yet, let us begin at 
home, and look at the enormous literature devoted to 
the interpretation of the Old Testament, at the num- 
ber of books published every year on controverted 
points in the doctrine or the history of the Gospels, 
and you may then form an idea of what a theological 
library would be that should contain the necessary ma- 
terials for an accurate and scholarlike interpretation 
of the eight sacred codes. Even in so modern, and, 
in the beginning, at least, so illiterate a religion as that 
of Mohammed, the sources that have to be consulted 
for the history of the faith during the early centuries 
of its growth are so abundant, that few critical scholars 
could master them in their completeness. 1 

If we turn our eyes to the Aryan religions, the 
sacred writings of the Brahmans, in the narrowest 
acceptation of the word, might seem within easy grasp. 
The hymns of the Rig-veda, which are the real bible 
of the ancient faith of the Vedic Rishis, are only 1,028 

1 Sprenger, Das Leben des Mohammed, vol. i. p. 9. " Die Quellen, 
die ich benutzt habe, sind so zahlreich, und der Zu stand der Gelehr- 
samkeit war unter den Moslimen in ihrer Urzeit von dem unsrigen so 
verschieden, dass die Materialien, die ich uber die Quellen gesammelt 
habe, ein ziemlich beleibtes Bandchen bilden werden. Es ist in der 
That nothwendig, die Literaturgeschichte des Islam der ersten zwei 
Jahrhunderte zu schreiben, um den Leser in den Stand zu setzen, den 
hier gesammelten kritischen Apparat zu benutzen. Ich gedenke die 
Resultate meiner Forschungen als ein separates Werkchen nach der 
Frophetenbiographie herauszugeben." 



SECOND LECTURE. 33 

in number, consisting of about 10,580 verses. 1 The 
commentary, however, on these hymns, of which I 
have published four good-sized quarto volumes, is esti- 
mated at 100,000 lines, consisting^ of thirty-two sylla- 
bles each, that is at 3,200,000 syllables. There are 
besides, the three minor Vedas, the Ya^ur-veda, the 
Sama-veda, the Artharva-veda, which, though of less 
importance for religious doctrines, are indispensable for 
a right appreciation of the ceremonial system of the 
worshippers of the ancient Vedic gods. 

To each of these four Vedas belong collections of 
so-called Brahmanas, scholastic treatises of a later 
time, it is true, but nevertheless written in archaic 
Sanskrit, and reckoned by every orthodox Hindu as 
part of his revealed literature. Their bulk is much 
larger than that of the ancient Vedic hymn-books. 

And all this constitutes the text only for numberless 
treatises, essays, manuals, glosses, etc., forming an un- 
interrupted chain of theological literature, extending 
over more than three thousand years, and receiving 
new links even at the present time. There are, be- 
sides, the inevitable parasites of theological literature, 
the controversial writings of different schools of thought 
and faith, all claiming to be orthodox, yet differing 
from each other like day and night; and lastly, the 
compositions of writers, professedly unorthodox, pro- 
fessedly at variance with the opinions of the majority, 
declared enemies of the Brahmanic faith and the Brah- 
manic priesthood, whose accusations and insinuations, 
whose sledge-hammers of argument, and whose poi- 
soned arrows of invective need fear no comparison 
with the weapons of theological warfare in any other 
country. 

1 Max Muller, History of Ancient Sa,7iskrit Literature, p. 220. 



34 THE SCIENCE OF KELIGION. 

Nor can we exclude the sacred law books, nor the 
ancient epic poems, the Mahabharata and Ramayana, 
nor the more modern, yet sacred literature of India, 
the Purawas and Tantras, if we wish to gain an insight 
into the religious belief of millions of human beings, 
who though they all acknowledge the Veda as their 
supreme authority in matters of faith, yet are unable 
to understand one single line of it, and in their daily 
life depend entirely for spiritual food on the teaching 
conveyed to them by these more recent and more pop- 
ular books. And even then our eye would not have 
reached many of the sacred recesses in which the 
Hindu mind has taken refuge, either to meditate on 
the great problem of life, or to free itself from the 
temptations and fetters of worldly existence by pen- 
ances and mortifications of the most exquisite cruelty. 
India has always been teeming with religious sects, and 
as far as we can look back into the history of that mar- 
velous country, its religious life has been broken up 
into countless local centres which it required all the in- 
genuity and perseverance of a priestly caste to hold 
together with a semblance of dogmatic uniformity. 
Some of these sects may almost claim the title of inde- 
pendent religions, as, for instance, the once famous sect 
of the Sikhs, possessing their own sacred code and their 
own priesthood, and threatening for a time to become 
a formidable rival of Brahmanism and Mohammedan- 
ism in India. Political circumstances gave to the sect 
of Nanak its historical prominence and more lasting 
fame. To the student of religion it is but one out of 
many sects which took their origin in the fifteenth and 
sixteenth centuries, and attempted to replace the cor- 
ruptions of Hinduism and Mohammedanism by a purer 
and more spiritual worship. The Granth, i. e. the 



SECOND LECTURE. 35 

Volume, the sacred book of the Sikhs, is full of inter- 
est, full of really deep and poetical thought ; and it is 
to be hoped that it will soon find an English translator. 
But there are other collections of religious poetry, 
more ancient and more original than the stanzas of 
Nanak ; nay, many of the most beautiful verses of the 
Granth were borrowed from these earlier authorities, 
particularly from Kabir, the pupil of Ramanand. Here 
there is enough to occupy the students of religion : an 
intellectual flora of greater variety and profuseness 
than even the natural flora of that fertile country. 

And yet we have not said a word as yet of the 
second book-religion of India — of the religion of Bud- 
dha, originally one only out of numberless sects, but 
possessing a vitality which has made its branches to 
overshadow the largest portion of the inhabited globe. 
Who can say — I do not speak of European scholars 
only, but of the most learned members of the Buddhist 
fraternities — who can say that he has read the whole 
of the canonical books of the Buddhist Church, to say 
nothing of their commentaries or later treatises? The 
text and commentaries of the Buddhist canon contain, 
according to a statement in the Saddharma-alankara, 1 
29,368,000 letters. Such statements do not convey to 
our mind any very definite idea, nor could any scholar 
vouch for their absolute correctness. But if we consider 
that the English Bible is said to contain about three 
millions and a half of letters, 2 (and here vowels are 
counted separately from consonants), five or six times 
that amount would hardly seem enough, as a rough 
estimate of the bulk of the Buddhist scriptures. The 
Tibetan edition of the Buddhist canon, consisting of 

1 Spence Hardy, The Legends and Theories of the Buddhists, p. 66. 

2 3,567.180. 



36 THE SCIENCE OF KELIGION. 

two collections, the Kanjur and Tanjur, numbers, about 
three hundred and twenty-five volumes folio, each 
weighing, in the Pekin edition, from four to five 
pounds. 1 

Apparently within a smaller compass lies the sacred 
literature of the third of the Aryan book-religions, the 
so-called Zendavesta. But here the very scantiness of 
the ancient text increases the difficulty of its success- 
ful interpretation, and the absence of native commen- 
taries has thrown nearly the whole burden of decipher- 
ing on the patience and ingenuity of European scholars. 

If lastly we turn to China, we find that the religion 
of Confucius is founded on the Five King and the Four 
Shu — books in themselves of considerable extent, and 
surrounded by voluminous commentaries, without which 
even the most learned scholars would not venture to 
fathom the depth of their sacred canon. 2 

Lao-tse, the contemporary or rather the senior of 
Confucius, is reported to have written a large number 
of books ; 3 no less than nine hundred and thirty on 
different questions of faith, morality, and worship, and 
seventy on magic. His principal work, however, the 
Tao-te-king, which represents the real scripture of his 
followers, the Tao-sse, consists only of about five thou- 
sand words, 4 and fills no more than thirty pages. But 
here again we find that for that very reason the text is 
unintelligible without copious commentaries, so that M. 
Julien had to consult more than sixty commentators for 

1 Chips from a German Workshop, vol. i. p. 193. 

2 The Chinese Classics, with a Translation, Notes, Prolegomena, and 
Indexes. By James Legge, D. D. ; 7 vols. London : Triibner & Co. 

8 Stan. Julien, Too te king, p. xxvii. 

* Julien, Tao te king, p. xxxi., xxxv. The texts vary from 5,610, 
5,630, 5,688, to 5,722 words. The text published by M. Stan. Julien 
consists of 5,320 words. 



SECOND LECTURE. 37 

the purpose of his translation, the earliest going back 
as far as the year 163 b. c. 

There is a third established religion in China, that 
of Fo ; but Fo is only the Chinese corruption of Bud- 
dha, and though the religion of Buddha, as transferred 
from India to China, has assumed a peculiar character 
and produced an enormous literature of its own, yet 
Chinese Buddhism cannot be called an independent 
religion, any more than Buddhism in Ceylon, Burmah, 
and Siam, or in Nepaul, Tibet, and Mongolia. 

But after we have collected this library of the sacred 
books of the world with their indispensable commen- 
taries, are we then in possession of the requisite mate- 
rials for studying the growth and decay of the religious 
convictions of mankind at large ? Far from it. The 
largest portion of mankind, — aye, and some of the 
most valiant champions in the religious and intellectual 
struggles of the world, would be unrepresented in our 
theological library. Think only of the Greeks and 
the Romans ; think of the Teutonic, the Celtic, and 
Slavonic nations ! Where are we to gain an insight 
into what we may call their real religious convictions, 
previous to the comparatively recent period when their 
ancient temples were leveled to the ground to make 
room for new cathedrals ; and their sacred oaks were 
felled to be changed into crosses, planted along every 
mountain pass and forest lane ? Homer and Hesiod 
do not tell us what was the religion, the real heart- 
religion of the Greeks, nor were their own poems ever 
considered as sacred, or even as authoritative and bind- 
ing, by the highest intellects among the Greeks. In 
Rome we have not even an Iliad or Odyssey ; and 
when we ask for the religious worship of the Teutonic, 
the Celtic, or the Slavonic tribes, the very names of 



38 THE SCIENCE OF RELIGION. 

many of the deities in whom they believed are forgot- 
ten and lost forever, and the scattered notices of their 
faith have to be picked up and put together like the 
small stones of a broken mosaic that once formed the 
pavement in the ruined temples of Rome. 

The same gaps, the same want of representative au- 
thorities, which we witness among the Aryan, we meet 
again among the Semitic nations, as soon as we step 
out of the circle of their book-religions. The Babylo- 
nians, the Phenicians, and Carthaginians, the Arabs be- 
fore their conversion to Mohammedanism, all are with- 
out canonical books, and a knowledge of their religion 
has to be gathered, as well as may be, from monuments, 
inscriptions, traditions, from proper names, from prov- 
erbs, from curses, and other stray notices which require 
the greatest care before they can be properly sifted 
and successfully fitted together. 

But now let us go on further. The two beds in 
which the stream of Aryan and Semitic thought has 
been rolling on for centuries from southeast to north- 
west, from the Indus to the Thames, from the Euphra- 
tes to the Jordan and the Mediterranean, cover but a 
narrow tract of country compared with the vastness of 
our globe. As we rise higher, our horizon expands on 
every side, and wherever there are traces of human 
life there are traces also of religion. Along the shores 
of the ancient Nile we see still standing the Pyramids, 
and the ruins of temples and labyrinths, their walls 
covered with hieroglyphic inscriptions, and with the 
strange pictures of gods and goddesses. On rolls of 
papyrus, which seem to defy the ravages of time, we 
have even fragments of what may be called the sacred 
books of the Egyptians. Yet though much has been 
deciphered in the ancient records of that mysterious 



SECOND LECTURE. 39 

race, the mainspring of the religion of Egypt and the 
original intention of its ceremonial worship are far from 
being fully disclosed to us. As we follow the sacred 
stream to its distant sources the whole continent of Af- 
rica opens before us, and wherever we now see kraals 
and cattle-pens, depend upon it there was to be seen 
once, or there is to be seen even now, the smoke of 
sacrifices rising up from earth to heaven. The ancient 
relics of African faith are rapidly disappearing at the 
approach of Mohammedan and Christian missionaries ; 
but what has been preserved of it, chiefly through the 
exertions of learned missionaries, is full of interest to 
the student of religion, with its strange worship of 
snakes and ancestors, its vague hope of a future life, 
and its not altogether faded reminiscence of a Supreme 
God, the Father of the black as well as of the white 
man. 

From the eastern coast of Africa our eye is carried 
across the sea where, from Madagascar to Hawaii, isl- 
and after island stands out like so many pillars of a 
sunken bridge that once spanned the Indian and Pa- 
cific oceans. Everywhere, whether among the dark 
Papuan or the yellowish Malay, or the brown Poly- 
nesian races scattered on these islands, even among the 
lowest of the low in the scale of humanity, there are, 
if we will but listen, whisperings about divine beings, 
imaginings of a future life ; there are prayers and sac- 
rifices which, even in their most degraded and degrad- 
ing form, still bear witness to that old and ineradicable 
faith that everywhere there is a God to hear our pray- 
ers, if we will but call on Him, and to accept our of- 
ferings, if they are offered as a ransom for sin or as a 
token of a grateful heart. 

Still farther east the double continent of America 



40 THE SCIENCE OF RELIGION. 

becomes visible, and in spite of the unchristian vandal- 
ism of its first discoverers and conquerors, there, too, 
we find materials for the study of an ancient, and, it 
would seem, independent faith. Unfortunately, the 
religious and mythological traditions, collected by the 
first Europeans who came in contact with the natives 
of America, reach back but a short distance beyond 
the time when they were written down, and they seem 
in several cases to reflect the thoughts of the Spanish 
listeners as much as those of the native narrators. The 
quaint hieroglyphic manuscripts of Mexico and Gua- 
temala have as yet told us very little, and the accounts 
written by natives in their native language have to be 
used with great caution. Still the ancient religion of 
the Aztecs of Mexico and of the Incas of Peru is full 
of interesting problems. As we advance towards the 
north and its red skinned inhabitants, our information 
becomes more meagre still, and after what happened 
some years ago, no " Livre des Sauvages " is likely to 
come to our assistance again. Yet there are wild and 
home-grown specimens of religious faith to be studied 
even now among the receding and gradually perishing 
tribes of the Red Indians, and, in their languages as 
well as in their religions, traces may possibly still be 
found, before it is too late, of pre-historic migrations 
of men from the primitive Asiatic to the American 
continent, either across the stepping-stones of the Aleu- 
tic bridge in the north, or lower south by drifting with 
favorable winds from island to island, till the hardy 
canoe was landed or wrecked on the American coast, 
never more to return to the Asiatic home from which 
it started. 

And when in our religious survey we finally come 
back again to the Asiatic continent, we find here too, 



SECOND LECTURE. 41 

although nearly the whole of its area is now occupied by 
one or the other of the eight book-religions, by Mosa- 
ism, Christianity, and Mohammedanism, by Brahman- 
ism, Buddhism, and Zoroastrianism, and in China by 
the religions of Confucius and Lao-tse, that neverthe- 
less partly below the surface, and in some places still 
on the surface, more primitive forms of worship have 
maintained themselves. I mean the Shamanism of the 
Mongolian race, and the beautiful half-Homeric myth- 
ology of the Finnish and Esthonian tribes. 

And now that I have displayed this world-wide pan- 
orama before your eyes, you will share, I think, the 
feeling of dismay with which the student of the science 
of religion looks around and asks himself where to 
begin and how to proceed. That there are materials 
in abundance, capable of scientific treatment, no one 
would venture to deny. But how are they to be held 
together? How are we to discover what all these re- 
ligions share in common? How they differ? How 
they rise and how they decline ? What they are and 
what they mean ? 

Let us take the old saying, Divide et impera, and 
translate it somewhat freely by " Classify and con- 
quer," and I believe we shall then lay hold of the old 
thread of Ariadne which has led the students of many 
a science through darker labyrinths even than the laby- 
rinth of the religions of the world. All real science 
rests on classification, and only in case we cannot suc- 
ceed in classifying the various dialects of faith shall we 
have to confess that a science of religion is really an 
impossibility. If the ground before us has once been 
properly surveyed and carefully parceled out, each 
scholar may then cultivate his own glebe, without wast- 
ing his energies and without losing sight of the general 



42 THE SCIENCE OF RELIGION. 

purposes to which all special researches must be sub- 
servient. 

How, then, is the vast domain of religion to be par- 
celed out ? How are religions to be classified, or, we 
ought rather to ask first, how have they been classified 
before now ? The simplest classification, and one 
which we find adopted in almost every country, is that 
into true and false religions. It is very much like the 
first classification of languages into one's own language 
and the language of the rest of the world ; as the 
Greeks would say, into the languages of the Greeks 
and the Barbarians ; or, as the Jews would say, into 
the languages of the Jews and the Gentiles ; or, as the 
Hindus would say, into the languages of the Aryas 
and MleMAas ; or, as the Chinese would say, into the 
languages of the Middle Empire and that of the Outer 
Barbarians. I need not say why that sort of classifi- 
cation is useless for scientific purposes. 

There is another classification, apparently of a more 
scientific character, but if examined more closely, 
equally worthless to the student of religion. I mean 
the well-known division into revealed and natural re- 
ligions. 

I have first to say a few words on the meaning at- 
tached to Natural Religion. That word is constantly 
used in very different acceptations. It is applied by 
several writers to certain historical forms of religion, 
which are looked upon as not resting on the authority 
of revelation, in whatever sense that word may be 
hereafter interpreted. Thus Buddhism would be a 
natural religion in the eyes of the Brahmans, Brah- 
manism would be a natural religion in the eyes of the 
Mohammedans. With us, all religions except Christi- 
anity, and, though in a lesser degree, Mosaism, would 



SECOND LECTURE. 43 

be classed as merely natural ; and though natural does 
not imply false, yet it distinctly implies the absence of 
any sanction beyond the sense of truth, or the voice of 
conscience that is within us. 

But Natural Religion is also used in a very different 
sense, particularly by the philosophers of the last cen- 
tury. When people began to subject the principal 
historical religions to a critical analysis, they found that 
after removing what was peculiar to each, there re- 
mained certain principles which they all shared in com- 
mon. These were supposed to be the principles of 
Natural Religion. Again, when everything that seemed 
supernatural, miraculous, and irrational, had been re- 
moved from the pages of the New Testament, there 
still remained a kind of skeleton of religion, and this 
too was passed off under the name of Natural Relig- 
ion. During the last century, philosophers who were 
opposing the spread of skepticism and infidelity, 
thought that this kind of natural, or, as it was also 
called, rational religion, might serve as a breakwater 
against utter unbelief; but they soon found out that a 
mere philosophical system, however true, can never 
take the place of religious faith. When Diderot said 
that all revealed religions were the heresies of Natural 
Religion, he meant by Natural Religion a body of 
truths implanted in human nature, to be discovered by 
the eye of reason alone, and independent of any such 
historical or local influences as give to each religion its 
peculiar character and local aspect. The existence of 
a deity, the nature of his attributes, such as Omnipo- 
tence, Omniscience, Omnipresence, Eternity, Self-ex- 
istence, Spirituality, the Goodness also of the Deity, 
and connected with it, the admission of a distinction 
between Good and Evil, between Virtue and Vice, all 



44 THE SCIENCE OF KELIGION. 

this, and according to some writers, the Unity and Per- 
sonality also of the Deity, were included in the domain 
of Natural Religion. The scientific treatment of this 
so-called Natural Religion received the name of Natu- 
ral Theology, a title rendered famous in the beginning 
of our century by the much praised and much abused 
work of Paley. Natural Religion corresponds in the 
science of religion to what in the science of language 
used to be called Grammaire gSnerale^ a collection of 
fundamental rules which are supposed to be self-evi- 
dent, without which no grammar would be possible, 
but which, strange to say, never exist in their purity 
and completeness in any language that is or ever has 
been spoken by human beings. It is the same with re- 
ligion. There never has been any real religion, con- 
sisting exclusively of the pure and simple tenets of 
Natural Religion, though there have been certain phi- 
losophers who brought themselves to believe that their 
religion was entirely rational, — was, in fact, pure and 
simple Deism. 

If we speak, therefore, of a classification of all his- 
torical religions into revealed and natural, what is 
meant by natural is simply the negation of revealed, 
and if we tried to carry out the classification practi- 
cally, we should find the same result as before. We 
should have on one side Christianity alone, or, accord- 
ing to some theologians, Christianity and Judaism ; on 
the other, all the remaining religions of the world. 

This classification, therefore, whatever may be its 
practical value, is perfectly useless for scientific pur- 
poses. A more extended study shows us very soon 
that the claim of revelation is set up by the founders, 
or if not by them, at all events by the later preachers 
and advocates of most religions ; and would therefore 



SECOND LECTURE. 45 

be declined by all but ourselves as a distinguishing fea- 
ture of Christianity and Judaism. We shall see, in 
fact, that the claims to a revealed authority are urged 
far more strongly and elaborately by the believers in 
the Veda, than by the apologetical theologians among 
the Jews and Christians. Even Buddha, originally 
the most thoroughly human and self-dependent among 
the founders of religion, is by a strange kind of incon- 
sistency represented in later controversial writings, as 
in possession of revealed truth. 1 He himself could 
not, like Numa, or Zoroaster, or Mohammed, 2 claim 
communication with higher spirits ; still less could he, 
like the poets of the Veda, speak of divine inspirations 
and god-given utterances : for according to him there 
was none among the spirits greater or wiser than him- 
self, and the gods of the Veda had become his servants 
and worshippers. Buddha himself appeals only to 
what we should call the inner light. 3 When he de- 
livered for the first time the four fundamental doc- 
trines of his system, he said, " Mendicants, for the at- 
tainment of these previously unknown doctrines, the 
eye, the knowledge, the wisdom, the clear perception, 
the light were developed within me." He was called 
Sarva^na or omniscient by his earliest pupils ; but 
when in later times it was seen that on several points 
Buddha had but spoken the language of his age, and 
had shared the errors current among his contempora- 
ries with regard to the shape of the earth and the 
movement of the heavenly bodies, an important con- 
cession was made by Buddhist theologians. They 

1 History of Ancient Sanskrit Literature, by Max Miiller, p. 83. 

2 Sprenger, Mohammed, vol. ii. p. 426. 

8 Gogerly, The Evidences and Doctrines of Christian Religion. Co 
lombo, 1862. Parti. 



46 THE SCIENCE OF RELIGION. 

limited the meaning of the word " omniscient," as ap- 
plied to Buddha, to a knowledge of the principal doc- 
trines of his system, and concerning these, but these 
only, they declared him to have been infallible. 
This may seem to be a modern kind of view, but 
whether modern or ancient, it certainly reflects great 
credit on the Buddhist theologians. In the Milinda 
Prasna, however, which is a canonical book, we see 
that the same idea was already rising in the mind of 
the great Nagasena. Being asked by King Milinda 
whether Buddha is omniscient, he replies : " Yes, 
Great King, the blessed Buddha is omniscient. But 
Buddha does not at all times exercise his omniscience. 
By meditation he knows all things ; meditating he 
knows everything he desires to know." In this reply 
a distinction is evidently intended between subjects 
that may be known by sense and reason, and subjects 
that can be known by meditation only. Within the 
domain of sense and reason, Nagasena does not claim 
omniscience or infallibility for Buddha, but he claims 
for him both omniscience and infallibility in all that 
is to be perceived by meditation only, or, as we should 
say, in matters of faith. 

I shall have to explain to you hereafter the extraor- 
dinary contrivances by which the Brahmans endeav- 
ored to eliminate every human element from the hymns 
of the Veda, and to establish, not only the revealed, 
but the prehistoric or even antemundane character 
of their scriptures. No apologetic writings have ever 
carried the theory of revelation to greater extremes. 

In the present stage of our inquiries, all that I wish 
to point out is this, — that when the founders or de- 
fenders of nearly all the religions of the world appeal 
to some kind of revelation in support of the truth of 



SECOND LECTUEE. 47 

their doctrines, it could answer no useful purpose were 
we to attempt any classification on such disputed 
ground. Whether the claim of a natural or preter- 
natural revelation, put forward by different religions, is 
well founded or not, is not the question at present. It 
falls to the province of Theoretic Theology to* explain 
the true meaning of revelation, for few words have 
been used so vaguely and in so many different senses. 
It falls to its province to explain, not only how the veil 
was withdrawn that intercepted for a time the rays of 
divine truth, but what is a far more difficult problem, 
how there could ever have been a veil between truth 
and the seeker of truth, between the adoring heart and 
the object of the highest adoration, between the Father 
and his children. 

In Comparative Theology our task is different : we 
have simply to deal with the facts such as we find 
them. If people regard their religion as revealed, it is 
to them a revealed religion, and has to be treated as 
such by an impartial historian. We cannot determine 
a question by adopting, without discussion, the claims 
of one party, and ignoring those of the other. 

But this principle of classification into revealed and 
natural religions appears still more faulty, when we 
look at it from another point of view. Even if we 
granted that all religions, except Christianity and Mo- 
saism, derived their origin from those faculties of the 
mind only which, according to Paley, are sufficient by 
themselves for calling into life the fundamental tenets 
of what we explained before as natural religion, the 
classification of Christianity and Judaism on one side 
as revealed, and of the other religions as natural, 
would still be defective, for the simple reason that no 
religion, though founded on revelation, can ever be en- 



48 THE SCIENCE OF RELIGION. 

tirely separated from natural religion. The tenets of 
natural religion, though by themselves they never con- 
stituted a real historical religion, supply the only 
ground on which revealed religion can stand, the only 
soil where it can strike root, and from which it can re- 
ceive nourishment and life. If we took away that soil, 
or if we supposed that it, too, had to be supplied by 
revelation, we should not only run counter to the letter 
and spirit of the Old and the New Testament, but w T e 
should degrade revealed religion by changing it into a 
mere formula, to be accepted by a recipient incapable 
of questioning, weighing, and appreciating its truth ; 
we should indeed have the germ, but we should have 
thrown away the congenial soil in which alone that 
germ of true religion can live and grow. 

Christianity, addressing itself not only to the Jews, 
but also to the Gentiles, not only to the ignorant, but 
also to the learned, not only to the believers, but in 
the first instance, to the unbeliever, presupposed in all 
of them the elements of natural religion, and with 
them the power of choosing between truth and un- 
truth. Thus only could St. Paul say : " Prove all 
things ; hold fast that which is good." ( 1 Thess. 
v. 21.) 

The same is true with regard to the Old Testament. 
There, too, the belief in a Deity, and in some at least 
of its indefeasible attributes, is taken for granted, and 
the prophets who call the wayward Jews back to the 
worship of Jehovah, appeal to them as competent, by 
the truth-testing power that is within them, to choose 
between Jehovah and the gods of the Gentiles, between 
truth and untruth. Remember only the important 
chapter in the earliest history of the Jews, when 
Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem, 



SECOND LECTURE. 49 

and called for the elders of Israel, and for their neads, 
and for their judges, and for their officers ; and they 
presented themselves before God. 

" And Joshua said unto all the people : Thus saith 
the Lord God of Israel : Your fathers dwelt on the 
other side of the flood in old time, even Terah, the 
father of Abraham, and the father of Nachor; and 
they served other gods." 

And then, after reminding them of all that God has 
done for them, he concludes by saying : — 

" Now, therefore, fear the Lord, and serve Him in 
sincerity and in truth ; and put away the gods which 
your fathers served on the other side of the flood, and 
in Egypt, and serve ye the Lord. 

" And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, 
choose you this day whom ye will serve ; whether the 
gods which your fathers served that were on the other 
side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites in whose 
lands ye dwell ; but as for me and my house, we will 
serve the Lord." 

In order to choose between different gods and differ- 
ent forms of faith, a man must possess the faculty of 
choosing, the instruments of testing truth and untruth, 
whether revealed or not ; he must know that certain 
fundamental tenets cannot be absent in any true relig- 
ion, and that there are doctrines against which his ra- 
tional or moral conscience revolts as incompatible with 
truth. In short, there must be the foundation of relig- 
ion, there must be the solid rock, before it is possible 
to erect an altar, a temple, or a church ; and if we call 
that foundation natural religion, it is clear that no re- 
vealed religion can be thought of which does not rest 
more or less firmly on natural religion. 

These difficulties have been felt distinctly by some 



50 THE SCIENCE OF RELIGION. 

of our most learned divines, who have attempted a 
classification of religions from their own point of view. 
New definitions of natural religion have therefore been 
proposed in order to avoid the overlapping of the two 
definitions of natural and revealed religion. Natural 
religion has, for instance, been explained as the relig- 
ion of nature before revelation, such as may be sup- 
posed to have existed among the patriarchs, or to exist 
still among primitive people who have not yet been 
enlightened by Christianity or debased by idolatry. 

According to this view we should have to distinguish, 
not two, but three classes of religion : the primitive or 
natural, the debased or idolatrous, and the revealed. 
But, as pointed out before, the first, the so-called prim- 
itive or natural religion, exists in the minds of modern 
philosophers rather than of ancient poets and prophets. 
History never tells us of any race with whom the sim- 
ple feeling of reverence for higher powers was not 
hidden under mythological disguises. Nor would it be 
possible even thus to separate the three classes of relig- 
ion by sharp and definite lines of demarcation, because 
both the debased or idolatrous and the purified or re- 
vealed religions would, of necessity, include within 
themselves the elements of natural religion. Nor do 
we diminish these difficulties in the classificatory stage 
of our science, if, in the place of this simple natural 
religion, we admit with other theologians and philoso- 
phers, a universal primeval revelation. This universal 
primeval revelation is only another name for natural 
religion, and it rests on no authority but the specula- 
tions of philosophers. The same class of philosophers, 
considering that language was too wonderful an achieve- 
ment for the human mind, insisted on the necessity of 
admitting a universal primeval language revealed di- 



SECOND LECTUKE. 51 

rectly by God to man, or rather to mute beings ; while 
the more thoughtful and the more reverent among the 
Fathers of the Church and among the founders of mod- 
ern philosophy pointed out that it was more consonant 
with the general working of an all-wise and all-power- 
ful Creator, that he should have endowed human na- 
ture with germinant faculties of speech, instead of pre- 
senting mute beings with grammars and dictionaries 
ready made. Is an infant less wonderful than a man ? 
an acorn less wonderful than an oak-tree ? a cell, if you 
like, or a protoplasm, including potentially within itself 
all that it has to become hereafter, less wonderful than 
all the moving creatures that have life? The same 
applies in religion. A universal primeval religion re- 
vealed direct by God to man, or rather to a crowd of 
atheists, may, to our human wisdom, seem the best 
solution of all difficulties ; but a higher wisdom speaks 
to us from out the realities of history, and teaches us, 
if we will but learn, that " We have all to seek the 
Lord, if haply we may feel after Him, and find Him, 
though he be not far from every one of us." 

Of the hypothesis of a universal primeval revelation 
and all its self-created difficulties we shall have to speak 
again ; for the present it must suffice if we have shown 
that the problem of a scientific classification of religion 
is not brought nearer to its solution by the additional 
assumption of another purely hypothetical class of re- 
ligion. 

We have not finished yet. A very important, and, 
for certain purposes, very useful classification has been 
that into polytheistic, dualistic, and monotheistic relig- 
ions. If religion rests chiefly on a belief in a Higher 
Power, then the nature of that Higher Power would 
seem to supply a very characteristic feature by which to 



52 THE SCIENCE OF RELIGION. 

classify the religions of the world. Nor do I deny that 
for certain purposes such a classification has proved 
useful ; all I maintain is that we should thus have to 
class together religions heterogeneous in other respects, 
though agreeing in the number of their deities. Be- 
sides, it would certainly be necessary to add two other 
classes — the henotheistic and the atheistic. Henothe- 
istic religions differ from polytheistic because, although 
they recognize the existence of various deities, or names 
of deities, they represent each deity as independent of 
all the rest, as the only deity present in the mind of the 
worshipper at the time of his worship and prayer. This 
character is very prominent in the religion of the Vedic 
poets. Although many gods are invoked in different 
hymns, sometimes also in the same hymn, yet there is 
no rule of precedence established among them ; and, 
according to the varying aspects of nature, and the 
various cravings of the human heart, it is sometimes 
Indra, the god of the blue sky, sometimes Agni, the 
god of fire, sometimes Varuwa, the ancient god of the 
firmament, who are praised as supreme without any 
suspicion of rivalry, or any idea of subordination. This 
peculiar phase of religion, this worship of single gods, 
forms probably everywhere the first stage in the growth 
of polytheism, and deserves therefore a separate name. 
As to atheistic religions, they might seem to be per- 
fectly impossible ; and yet the fact cannot be disputed 
away that the religion of Buddha was from the begin- 
ning purely atheistic. The idea of the Godhead, after 
it had been degraded by endless mythological absurdi- 
ties which struck and repelled the heart of Buddha, 
was, for a time at least, entirely expelled from the 
sanctuary of the human mind ; and the highest moral- 
ity that was ever taught before the rise of Christianity 



SECOND LECTURE. 53 

was taught by men with whom the gods had become 
mere phantoms, and who had no altars, not even an 
altar to the Unknown God. 

It will be the object of my next lecture to show that 
the only scientific and truly genetic classification of 
religions is the same as the classification of languages, 
and that, particularly in the early history of the human 
intellect, there exists the most intimate relationship be- 
tween language, religion, and nationality — a relation- 
ship quite independent of those physical elements, the 
blood, the skull, or the hair, on which ethnologists have 
attempted to found their classification of the human 
race. 



THIRD LECTURE. 



I"F we approached the religions of mankind without 
*■ any prejudices or predilections, in that frame of 
mind in which the lover of truth or the man of science 
ought to approach every subject, I believe we should 
not be long before recognizing the natural lines of de- 
markation which divide the whole religious world into 
several great continents. I am speaking, of course, of 
ancient religions only, or of the earliest period in the 
history of religious thought. In that primitive period 
which might be called, if not prehistoric, at least 
purely ethnic, because what we know of it consists only 
in the general movements of nations, and not in the 
acts of individuals, of parties, or of states, — in that 
primitive period, I say, nations have been called lan- 
guages ; and in our best works on the ancient history 
of mankind, a map of languages has actually taken the 
place of a map of nations. But during the same 
primitive period nations might with, equal right be 
called religions; for there is at that time the same, 
nay, an even more intimate, relationship between re- 
ligion and nationality as between language and nation- 
ality. In order clearly to explain my meaning, I shall 
have to refer, as shortly as possible, to the speculations 
of some German philosophers on the true relation be- 
tween language, religion, and nationality, — specula- 
tions which have as yet received less attention on the 



THIRD LECTURE. 55 

part of modern ethnologists than they seem to me to 
deserve. 

It was Schelling, one of the profoundest thinkers of 
Germany, who first asked the question, What makes 
an ethnos f What is the true origin of a people ? 
How did human beings become a people ? And the 
answer which he gave, though it sounded startling to 
me when, in 1845, 1 listened, at Berlin, to the lectures 
of the old philosopher, has been confirmed more and 
more by subsequent researches into the history of lan- 
guage and religion. 

To say that man is a gregarious animal, and that, 
like swarms of bees, or herds of wild elephants, men 
keep together instinctively and thus form themselves 
into a people, is saying very little. It might explain 
the agglomeration of one large flock of human beings, 
but it would never explain the formation of individual 
peoples. 

Nor should we advance much towards a solution of 
our problem if we were told that men are broken up 
into peoples as bees are broken up into swarms, by fol- 
lowing different queens, by owing allegiance to dif- 
ferent governments. Allegiance to the same govern- 
ment, particularly in ancient times, is the result rather 
than the cause of nationality ; while in historical times, 
such has been the confusion produced by extraneous 
influences, by brute force, or dynastic combinations, 
that the natural development of peoples has been en- 
tirely arrested, and we frequently find one and the 
same people divided by different governments, and dif- 
ferent peoples united under the same ruler. 

Our question, What makes a people ? has to be 
considered in reference to the most ancient times. 
How did men form themselves into a people before 



56 THE SCIENCE OF RELIGION. 

there were kings or shepherds of men ! Was it through 
community of blood? I doubt it. Community of 
blood produces families, clans, possibly races, but it 
does not produce that higher and purely moral feeling 
which binds men together and makes them a people. 

It is language and religion that make a people, but 
religion is even a more powerful agent than language. 
The languages of many of the aboriginal inhabitants of 
Northern America are but dialectic varieties of one 
type, but those who spoke these dialects have never 
coalesced into a people. They remained. mere clans or 
wandering tribes ; they never knew the feeling of a 
nation because they never knew the feeling of worship- 
ping the same gods. The Greeks, on the contrary, 
though speaking their strongly marked, and I doubt 
whether mutually intelligible dialects, the ^Eolic, the 
Doric, the Ionic, felt themselves at all times, even 
when ruled by different tyrants, or broken up into nu- 
merous republics, as one great Hellenic people. What 
was it, then, that preserved in their hearts, in spite of 
dialects, in spite of dynasties, in spite even of the 
feuds of tribes and the jealousies of states, the deep 
feeling of that ideal unity which constitutes a people? 
It was their primitive religion ; it was a dim recollection 
of the common allegiance they owed fron^time imme- 
morial to the great father of gods and men ; it was their 
belief in the old Zeus of Dodona, in the Panhellenic 
Zeus. 

Perhaps the most signal confirmation of this view 
that it is religion even more than language which sup- 
plies the foundation of nationality, is to be found in 
the history of the Jews, the chosen people of God. 
The language of the Jews differed from that of the 
Phenicians, the Moabites, and the other neighboring 



THIRD LECTURE. 57 

tribes much less than the Greek dialects differed from 
each other. But the worship of Jehovah made the 
Jews a peculiar people, the people of Jehovah, sepa- 
rated by their God, though not by their language, 
from the people of Chemosh (the Moabites) 1 and from 
the worshippers of Baal and Ashtoreth. It was their 
faith in Jehovah that changed the wandering tribes of 
Israel into a nation. 

" A people," as Schelling says, "exists only when 
it has determined itself with regard to its mythology. 
This mythology, therefore, cannot take its origin after 
a national separation has taken place, after a people 
has become a people ; nor could it spring up while a 
people was still contained as an invisible part in the 
whole of humanity ; but its origin must be referred to 
that very period of transition before a people has as- 
sumed its definite existence, and when it is on the point 
of separating and constituting itself. The same applies 
to the language of a people ; it becomes definite at the 
same time that a people becomes definite." 2 

Hegel, the great rival of Schelling, arrived at the 
same conclusion. In his " Philosophy of History " he 
says : " The idea of God constitutes the general foun- 
dation of a people. Whatever is the form of a re- 
ligion, the same is the form of a state and its constitu- 
tion; it springs from religion, so much so that the 
Athenian and the Roman states were possible only 
with the peculiar heathendom of those peoples, and 
that even now a Roman Catholic state has a different 
genius and a different constitution from a Protestant 
state. The genius of a people is a definite, individ- 

1 Numb. xxi. 29 ; Jer. xlviii. 7 : " And Chemosh shall go forth into 
captivity, with his priests and his princes together." 

2 Vorlesungen uber Philosophic der Mythologie, vol i. p. 107, seq. 



58 THE SCIENCE OF RELIGION. 

ual genius, which becomes conscious of its individual- 
ity in different spheres ; in the character of its moral 
life, its political constitution, its art, religion and sci- 
ence." 1 

But this is not an idea of philosophers only. His- 
torians, and more particularly the students of the 
history of law, have arrived at very much the same 
conclusion. Though to many of them law seems nat- 
urally to be the foundation of society, and the bond 
that binds a nation together, those who look below the 
surface have quickly perceived that law itself, at least 
ancient law, derives its authority, its force, its very 
life from religion. Mr. Maine is no doubt right when, 
in the case of the so-called Laws of Manu, he rejects 
the idea of the Deity dictating an entire code or body 
of law, as an idea of decidedly modern origin. Yet 
the belief that the lawgiver enjoyed some closer inti- 
macy with the Deity than ordinary mortals, pervades 
the ancient traditions of many nations. According to 
a well-known passage in Diodorus Siculus, 2 " the Egyp- 
tians believed their laws to have been communicated 
to Mnevis by Hermes ; the Cretans held that Minos 
received his laws from Zeus, the Lacedaemonians that 
Lykurgos received his laws from Apollon. According 
to the Aryans, their lawgiver, Zathraustes, had re- 

1 Though these words of Hegel's were published long before Spel- 
ling's lectures, they seem to me to breathe the spirit of Schelling 
rather than of Hegel, and it is but fair therefore to state that Schel- 
ling's lectures, though not published, were printed and circulated 
among friends twenty years before they were delivered at Berlin. The 
question of priority may seem of little importance on matters such as 
these, but there is nevertheless much truth in Schelling's remark, that 
philosophy advances not so much by the answers given to difficult 
problems, as by the starting of new problems, and by asking questions 
which no one else would think of asking. 

2 L. i. c. 94. 



THIRD LECTURE. 59 

ceived his laws from the Good Spirit ; according to 
the Getae, Zamolxis received his laws from the goddess 
Hestia; and, according to the Jews, Moses received 
his laws from the god Iao." No one has pointed out 
more forcibly than Mr. Maine that in ancient times 
religion as a divine influence was underlying and sup- 
porting every relation of life and every social institu- 
tion. " A supernatural presidency," he writes, " is 
supposed to consecrate and keep together all the car- 
dinal institutions of those early times, the state, the 
race, and the family." 1 " The elementary group is 
the family ; the aggregation of families forms the gens 
or the house. The aggregation of houses makes the 
tribe. The aggregation of tribes constitutes the com- 
monwealth." 2 Now the family is held together by 
the family sacra? and so were the gens, the tribe, and 
the commonwealth ; and strangers could only be ad- 
mitted to these brotherhoods by being admitted to their 
sacra. 4 At a later time, law breaks away from re- 
ligion, 5 but even then many traces remain to show 
that the hearth was the first altar, the father the first 
elder, his wife and children and slaves the first con- 
gregation gathered together round the sacred fire, — 
the Hestia, the goddess of the house, and in the end 
the goddess of the people. To the present day mar- 
riage, the most important of civil acts, the very founda- 
tion of civilized life, has retained the religious charac- 
ter which it had from the very beginning of history. 

Let us see now what religion really is in those early 
ages of which we are here speaking ; I do not mean 
religion as a silent power, working in the heart of 
man ; I mean religion in its outward appearance, re- 
ligion as something outspoken, tangible, and definite, 
1 Page 6. 2 Page 128. » Page 191. * Page 131. 6 Page 193. 



60 THE SCIENCE OF RELIGION. 

that can be described and communicated to others. 
We shall find that in that sense religion lies within 
a very small compass. A few words, recognized as 
names of the deity; a few epithets that have been 
raised from their material meaning to a higher and 
more spiritual stage, I mean words which expressed 
originally bodily strength, or brightness, or purity, and 
which came gradually to mean greatness, goodness, 
and holiness ; lastly, some more or less technical terms 
expressive of such ideas as sacrifice, altar, prayer, 
possibly virtue and sin, body and spirit, — that is what 
constitutes the outward framework of the incipient re- 
ligions of antiquity. If we look at this simple mani- 
festation of religion, we see at once why religion, dur- 
ing those early ages of which we are here speaking, 
may really and truly be called a sacred dialect of hu- 
man speech ; how at all events early religion and early 
language are most intimately connected, religion de- 
pending entirely for its outward expression on the 
more or less adequate resources of language. 

If this dependence of early religion on language is 
once clearly understood, it follows, as a matter of 
course, that whatever classification has been found 
most useful in the science of language ought to prove 
equally useful in the science of religion. If there is a 
truly genetic relationship of languages, the same rela- 
tionship ought to hold together the religions of the 
world, at least the most ancient religions. 

Before we proceed therefore to consider the proper 
classification of religions, it will be necessary to say a 
few words on the present state of our knowledge with 
regard to the genetic relationship of languages. 

If we confine ourselves to the Asiatic continent with 
its important peninsula of Europe, we find that in the 



THIRD LECTURE. 61 

vast desert of drifting human speech three and only- 
three oases have been formed in which, before the be- 
ginning of all history, language became permanent 
and traditional, assumed in fact a new character, a 
character totally different from the original character 
of the floating and constantly varying speech of human 
beings. These three oases of language are known by 
the name of Turanian, Aryan, and Semitic. In these 
three centres, more particularly in the Aryan and Se- 
mitic, language ceased to be natural ; its growth was 
arrested, and it became permanent, solid, petrified, or, 
if you like, historical speech. I have always main- 
tained that this centralization and traditional conserva- 
tion of language could only have been the result of 
religious and political influences, and I now mean to 
show that we really have clear evidence of three inde- 
pendent settlements of religion, the Turanian, the 
Aryan, and the Semitic, concomitantly with the three 
great settlements of language. 

Taking Chinese for what it can hardly any longer 
be doubted that it is, namely, the earliest representative 
of Turanian speech, we find in China an ancient col- 
orless and unpoetical religion, a religion we might 
almost venture to call monosyllabic, consisting of the 
worship of a host of single spirits, representing the 
sky, the sun, storms and lightning, mountains and riv- 
ers, one standing by the side of the other without any 
mutual attraction, without any higher principle to hold 
them together. In addition to this, we likewise meet 
in China with the worship of ancestral spirits, the 
spirits of the departed, who are supposed to retain 
some cognizance of human affairs, and to possess pe- 
culiar powers which they exercise for good or for evil. 
This double worship of human and of natural spirits 



62 THE SCIENCE OF RELIGION. 

constitutes the old popular religion of China, and it 
has lived on to the present day, at least in the lower 
ranks of society, though there towers above it a more 
elevated range of half religious and half philosophical 
faith, a belief in two higher Powers, which, in the lan- 
guage of philosophy, may mean Form and Matter, in 
the language of Ethics, Crood and Evil, but which in 
the original language of religion and mythology are 
represented as Heaven and Earth. 

It is true that we know the ancient popular religion 
of China from the works of Confucius only, or from 
even more modern sources. But Confucius, though 
he is called the founder of a new religion, was really 
but the new preacher of an old religion. He was em- 
phatically a transmitter, not a maker. 1 He says him- 
self, " I only hand on ; I cannot create new things. 
I believe in the ancients, and therefore I love them." 2 

We find, secondly, the ancient worship of the 
Semitic races clearly marked by a number of names 
of the Deity, which appear in the polytheistic religions 
of the Babylonians, the Phenicians, and Carthagin- 
ians, as well as in the monotheistic creeds of Jews, 
Christians, and Mohammedans. It is almost impos- 
sible to characterize the religion of people so different 
from each other in language, in literature, and general 
civilization, so different also from themselves at dif- 
ferent periods of their history ; but if I ventured to 
characterize the worship of all the Semitic nations by 
one word, I should say it was preeminently a worship 
of God in History, of God as affecting the destinies 
of individuals and races and nations rather than of 
God as wielding the powers of nature. The names of 

1 Dr. Legge, Life of Confucius, p. 96. 

2 Lun-yu (§ i. a.) ; Schott, Chinesische Literatur, p. 7. 



THIRD LECTURE. 63 

the Semitic deities are mostly words expressive of 
moral qualities ; they mean the Strong, the Exalted, 
the Lord, the King ; and they grow but seldom into 
divine personalities, definite in their outward appear- 
ance, or easily to be recognized by strongly marked 
features of a real dramatic character. Hence many 
of the ancient Semitic gods have a tendency to flow 
together, and a transition from the worship of single 
gods to the worship of one God required no great 
effort. In the monotonous desert, more particularly, 
the worship of single gods glided away almost percep- 
tibly into the worship of one God. If I were to add, 
as a distinguishing mark, that the Semitic religions 
excluded the feminine gender in their names of the 
Deity, or that all their female deities were only repre- 
sentatives of the active energies of older and sexless 
gods, this would be true of some only, not of all ; and 
it would require nearly as many limitations as the 
statement of M. Renan, that the Semitic religions 
were instinctively monotheistic. 

We find lastly the ancient worship of the Aryan 
race, carried to all the corners of the earth by its ad- 
venturous sons, and easily recognized, whether in the 
valleys of India or in the forests of Germany, by the 
common names of the Deity, all originally expressive 
of natural powers. Their worship is not, as has been 
so often said, a worship of nature. But if it had to be 
characterized by one word, I should venture to call it 
a worship of Ciod in Nature, of God as appearing be- 
hind the gorgeous veil of Nature, rather than as hidden 
behind the veil of the sanctuary of the human heart. 
The gods of the Aryan pantheon assume an individu- 
ality so strongly marked and permanent, that with the 
Arvans, a transition to monotheism required a power- 



64 THE SCIENCE OF RELIGION. 

fill struggle, and seldom took effect without iconoclas- 
tic revolutions or philosophical despair. 

These three classes of religion are not to be mis- 
taken, as little as the three classes of language, the 
Turanian, the Semitic, and the Aryan. They mark 
three events in the most ancient history of the world, 
events which have determined the whole fate of the 
human race, and of which we ourselves still feel the 
consequences in our language, in our thoughts, and in 
our religion. 

But the chaos which these three heroes in language, 
thought, and religion, the Turanian, the Semitic, and 
the Aryan, left behind, was not altogether a chaos. 
The stream of language from which these three chan- 
nels had separated rolled on ; the sacred fire of relig- 
ion from which these three altars had been lighted was 
not extinguished, though hidden in smoke and ashes. 
There was language and there was religion everywhere 
in the world, but it was natural, wild-growing language 
and religion ; it had no history, it left no history, and 
it is therefore incapable of that peculiar scientific treat- 
ment which has been found applicable to a study of 
the languages and the religions of the Chinese, the 
Semitic, and the Aryan nations. 

People wonder why the students of language have 
not succeeded in establishing more than three families 
of speech — or rather two, for the Turanian can hardly 
be called a family, in the strict sense of that word, 
until it has been fully proved that Chinese forms the 
centre of the two Turanian branches, the North Tura- 
nian on one side, and the South Turanian on the 
other ; that Chinese l forms, in fact, the earliest settle- 
ment of that unsettled mass of speech, which, at a 

1 Lecture on the Stratification of Language, p. 4. 



THIKD LECTURE. 65 

later stage, became more fixed and traditional : in the 
north, in Tungusic, Mongolic, Tataric, and Finnic ; and 
in the south, in Taie, Malaic, Bhotiya, and Tamulic. 
Now the reason why scholars have discovered no more 
than these two or three great families of speech is very 
simple. There were no more, and we cannot make 
more. Families of languages are very peculiar forma- 
tions ; they are, and they must be, the exception, not 
the rule, in the growth of language. There was 
always the possibility, but there never was, as far as 
I can judge, any necessity of human speech leaving its 
primitive stage of wild growth and wild decay. If it 
had not been for what I consider a purely spontaneous 
act on the part of the ancestors of the Semitic, Aryan, 
and Turanian races, all languages might forever have 
remained ephemeral, answering the purposes of every 
generation that comes and goes, struggling on, now 
gaining, now losing, sometimes acquiring a certain 
permanence, but after a season breaking up again, and 
earned away like blocks of ice by the waters that rise 
underneath the surface. Our very idea of language 
would then have been something totally different from 
what it is now. For what are we doing ? We first 
form our idea of what language ought to be from those 
exceptional languages which were arrested in their 
natural growth by social, religious, political, or at all 
events by extraneous influences, and we then turn 
round and wonder why all languages are not like these 
two or three exceptional channels of speech. We 
might as well wonder why all animals are not domes- 
ticated, or why, besides the garden anemone, there 
should be endless varieties of the same flower growing 
wild on the meadow and in the woods. 

In the Turanian class, in which the original concen- 

5 



66 THE SCIENCE OF RELIGION. 

tration was never so powerful as in the Aryan and 
Semitic families, we can still catch a glimpse of the 
natural growth of language, though confined within 
certain limits. The different settlements of this great 
floating mass of homogeneous speech do not show such 
definite marks of relationship as Hebrew and Arabic, 
Greek and Sanskrit, but only such sporadic coinci- 
dences and general structural similarities as can be ex- 
plained by the admission of a primitive concentration, 
followed by a new period of independent growth. It 
would be willful blindness not to recognize the definite 
and characteristic features which pervade the North 
Turanian languages ; it would be impossible to explain 
the coincidence between Hungarian, Lapponian, Es- 
thonian, and Finnish, except on the supposition that 
there was a very early concentration of speech whence 
these dialects branched off. We see less clearly in 
the South Turanian group, though I confess my sur- 
prise even here has always been, not that there should 
be so few, but that there should be even these few 
relics, attesting the former community of these diver- 
gent streams of language. The point in which the 
South Turanian and North Turanian languages meet 
goes back as far as Chinese ; for that Chinese is at the 
root of Mandshu and Mongolian as well as of Siamese 
and Tibetan becomes daily more apparent through the 
researches of Mr. Edkins. There is no hurry for pro- 
nouncing definitely on these questions ; only we must 
not allow the progress of free inquiry to be barred by 
dogmatic skepticism; we must not look for evidence 
which from the nature of the case we cannot and 
ought not to find ; and, before all things, we must not 
allow ourselves to be persuaded that for the discovery 
of truth, blinkers are more useful than spectacles. 



THIRD LECTURE. 67 

If we turn away from the Asiatic continent, the 
original home of the Aryan, the Semitic, and the Tu- 
ranian languages, we find that in Africa, too, a com- 
parative study of dialects has clearly proved a concen- 
tration of African language, the results of which may 
be seen in the uniform Bantu dialects, spoken from 
the equator to the Keiskamma. 1 North of this body 
of Bantu or Kafir speech, we have an independent 
settlement of Semitic language in the Berber and the 
Galla dialects ; south of it we have only the Hottentot 
and Bushman tongues, the latter hardly analyzed as 
yet, the former supposed to be related to languages 
spoken in Northern Africa, from which it became sep- 
arated by the intrusion of the Kafir tribes. Some 
scholars have indeed imagined a relationship between 
the language of the Hottentots, the Nubian dialects, 
and the ancient Egyptian, a language which, whatever 
its real relationship may be, marks at all events another 
primeval settlement of speech and religion, outside the 
Asiatic continent. But while the spoken languages 
of the African continent enable us to see the general 
articulation of the primitive population of Africa, — 
for there is a continuity in language which nothing 
can destroy, — we know, and can know, but little of 
the growth and decay of African religion. In many 
places Mohammedanism and Christianity have swept 
away every recollection of the ancient gods ; and even 
when attempts have been made by missionaries or 
travellers to describe the religious status of Zulus or 
Hottentots, they could only see the most recent forms 
of African faith, and those were changed almost inva- 
riably into grotesque caricatures. Of ancient African 
religion we have but one record, namely, in the monu- 

1 Blcek, Comparative Grammar of the South African Languages, p. 2. 



68 THE SCIENCE OF RELIGION. 

/nents of Egypt ; but here, in spite of the abundance 
of materials, in spite of the ruins of temples, and num- 
berless statues, and half-deciphered papyri, I must 
confess that we have not yet come very near to the 
beatings of the heart which once gave life to all this 
strange and mysterious grandeur. 1 

What applies to Africa applies to America. In the 
North we have the languages as witnesses of ancient 
migrations, but of ancient religion we have, again, 
hardly anything. In the South we know of two lin- 
guistic and political centres ; and there, in Mexico and 
Peru, we meet with curious, though not always trust- 
worthy, traditions of an ancient and well-established 
system of religious faith and worship. 

The Science of Religion has this advantage over 
the Science of Language, if advantage it may be called, 
that in several cases where the latter has materials 
sufficient to raise problems of the highest importance, 
but not sufficient for their satisfactory solution, the 
former has no materials at all. The ancient temples 
are destroyed, the names of the ancient deities are 
clean forgotten in many parts of the world where dia- 
lects, however changed, still keep up the tradition of 
the most distant ages. But even if it were otherwise, 
the students of religion would, I think, do well to fol- 
low the example of the students of language, and to 
serve their first apprenticeship in a comparative study 
of the Aryan and Semitic religions. If it can only be 
proved that the religions of the Aryan nations are 
united by the same bonds of a real relationship which 
have enabled us to treat their languages as so many 
varieties of the same type ; and so also of the Semitic ; 

1 De Vogue, Journal Asiatique, 1867, p. 136. De Rouge, "Sur la 
Religion des Anciens Egyptiens," in Annales de Philosophie Chretienne, 
Nov. 1869. 



TfflKD LECTURE. 69 

the field thus opened is vast enough, and its careful 
clearing and cultivation will occupy several genera- 
tions of scholars. And this original relationship, I 
believe, can be proved. Names of the principal dei- 
ties, words also expressive of the most essential ele- 
ments of religion, such as prayer, sacrifice, altar, spirit, 
law, and faith, have been preserved among the Aryan 
and among the Semitic nations, and these relics admit 
of one explanation only. After that, a comparative 
study of the Turanian religions may be approached 
with better hope of success ; for that there was not 
only a primitive Aryan and a primitive Semitic religion, 
but likewise a primitive Turanian religion, before each 
of these primeval races was broken up and became 
separated in language, worship, and national sentiment, 
admits, I believe, of little doubt. 

Let us begin with our own ancestors, the Aryans. 
In a lecture which I delivered in this place some years 
ago, I drew a sketch of what the life of the Aryans 
must have been before their first separation, that is, 
before the time when Sanskrit was spoken in India, or 
Greek in Asia Minor and Europe. The outline of 
that sketch and the colors with which it was filled 
were simply taken from language. We argued that it 
would be possible, if we took all the words which ex- 
ist in the same form in French, Italian, and Spanish, 
to show what words, and therefore what things, must 
have been known to the people who did not as yet 
speak French, Italian, and Spanish, but who spoke that 
language which preceded these Romance dialects. We 
happen to know that language ; it was Latin ; but if 
we did not know a word of Latin or a single chapter 
of Roman history, we should still be able, by using 
the evidence of the words which are common to all the 



70 THE SCIENCE OF RELIGION. 

Romance languages, to draw some kind of picture of 
what the principal thoughts and occupations of those 
people must have been who lived in Italy a thousand 
years at least before the time of Charlemagne. We 
could easily prove that those people must have had 
kings and laws, temples and palaces, ships and car- 
riages, high roads and bridges, and nearly all the in- 
gredients of a highly civilized life. We could prove 
this, as I said, by simply taking the names of all these 
things as they occur in French, Spanish, and Italian, 
and by showing that as Spanish did not borrow them 
from French, or Italian from Spanish, they must have 
existed in that previous stratum of language from - 
which these three modern Romance dialects took their 
origin. 

Exactly the same kind of argument enabled us to 
put together a kind of mosaic picture of the earliest 
civilization of the Aryan people before the time of 
their separation. As we find in Greek, Latin, and San- 
skrit, also in Slavonic, Celtic, and Teutonic, the same 
word for " house," we are fully justified in concluding 
that before any of these languages had assumed a sep- 
arate existence, a thousand years at least before Aga- 
memnon and before Manu, the ancestors of the Aryan 
race were no longer dwellers in tents, but builders of 
permanent houses. 1 As we find the name for town 
the same in Sanskrit and Greek, 2 we can conclude with 
equal certainty that towns were known to the Aryans 
before Greek and before Sanskrit was spoken. As we 
find the name for king the same in Sanskrit, Latin, 
Teutonic, and Celtic, 3 we know again that kingly gov- 

1 Sk. dama, 66/ioc, domus, Goth, tim rjan, " to build," SI. dom. 
Sk. vesa, oikoc, vicus, Goth, veih-s. 

2 Sk. pur, puri, orpuri; Gr. TroAif ; Sk. vastu, " house"; Gr. aarv. 
8 Sk. Rag, ra$ran, rex ; Goth, reiks ; Ir. riogh. 



THIRD LECTURE. 71 

ernmeiit was established and recognized by the Aryans 
at the same prehistoric period. I must not allow my- 
self to be tempted to draw the whole of that picture 
of primeval civilization over again. 1 I only wish to 
call back to your recollection the fact that in exploring 
together the ancient archives of language, we found 
that the highest god had received the same name in the 
ancient mythology of India, Greece, Italy, and Ger- 
many, and had retained that name whether worshipped 
on the Himalayan mountains, or among the oaks of 
Dodona, on the Capitol, or in the forests of Germany. 
I pointed out that his name was Dyaus in Sanskrit, 
Zeus in Greek, Jovis in Latin, Tiu in German ; but I 
hardly dwelt with sufficient strength on the startling 
nature of this discovery. These names are not mere 
names ; they are historical facts, aye, facts more imme- 
diate, more trustworthy, than many facts of mediaeval 
history. These words are not mere words, but they 
bring before us, with all the vividness of an event 
which we witnessed ourselves but yesterday, the an- 
cestors of the whole Aryan race, thousands of years it 
may be before Homer and the Veda, worshipping an 
unseen Being, under the selfsame name, the best, the 
most exalted name, they could find in their vocabu- 
lary, — under the name of Light and Sky. And let 
us not turn away, and say that this was after all but 
nature-worship and idolatry. No, it was not meant 
for that, though it may have been degraded into that 
in later times ; Dyaus did not mean the blue sky, nor 
was it simply the sky personified — it was meant for 
something else. We have in the Veda the invocation 
Dyaus pitar, the Greek Zcu 7raT€/>, the Latin Jupiter ; 
and that means in all the three languages what it 

1 See Chips from a German Workshop, vol. ii. p. 2,1, seq. 



72 THE SCIENCE OF RELIGION. 

meant before these three languages were torn asunder 
— it means Heaven-Father ! These two words are 
Tioi'-were words ; they are to my mind the oldest poem, 
the oldest prayer of mankind, or at least of that pure 
branch of it to which we belong, — and I am as firmly 
convinced that this prayer was uttered, that this name 
was given to the unknown God before Sanskrit was 
Sanskrit and Greek was Greek, as, when I see the 
Lord's Prayer in the languages of Polynesia and Me- 
lanesia, I feel certain that it was first uttered in the 
language of Jerusalem. We little thought when we 
heard for the first time the name of Jupiter, degraded 
it may be by Homer or Ovid into a scolding husband 
or a faithless lover, what sacred records lay enshrined 
in this unholy name. We shall have to learn the same 
lesson again and again in the Science of Religion, name- 
ly, that the place whereon we stand is holy ground. 
Thousands of years have passed since the Aryan nations 
separated to travel to the North and the South, the 
West and the East ; they have each formed their lan- 
guages, they have each founded empires and philoso- 
phies, they have each built temples and razed them to 
the ground ; they have all grown older, and it may be 
wiser and better ; but when they search for a name 
for what is most exalted and yet most dear to every 
one of us, when they wish to express both awe and 
love, the infinite and the finite, they can but do what 
their old fathers did when gazing up to the eternal sky, 
and feeling the presence of a Being as far as far, and 
as near as near can be ; they can but combine the 
selfsame words, and utter once more the primeval 
Aryan prayer, Heaven-Father, in that form which will 
endure forever, " Our Father which art in heaven." 
Let us now turn to the early religion of the Semitic 



THIRD LECTURE. 73 

nations. The Semitic languages, it is well known, are 
even more closely connected together than the Aryan 
languages, so much that a comparative grammar of the 
Semitic languages seems to have but few of the attrac- 
tions possessed by a comparative study of Sanskrit, 
Greek, and Latin. Semitic scholars complain that 
there is no work worth doing in comparing the gram- 
mars of Hebrew, Syriac, Arabic, and Ethiopic, for 
they have only to be placed side by side l in order to 
show their close relationship. I do not think this is 
quite the case, and I still hope that M. Renan will 
carry out his original design, and, by including not 
only the literary branches of the Semitic family, but 
also the ancient dialects of Phenicia, Arabia, Babylon, 
and Nineveh, produce a comparative grammar of the 
Semitic languages that may hold its place by the side 
of Bopp's great work on the " Comparative Grammar 
of the Aryan Languages." 

But what is still more surprising to me is that no 
Semitic scholar should have followed the example of 
the Aryan scholars, and collected from the different 
Semitic dialects those common words which must have 
existed before Hebrew was Hebrew, before Syriac was 
Syriac, and before Arabic was Arabic, and from which 
some kind of idea might be formed as to what were 
the principal thoughts and occupations of the Semitic 
race in its earliest undivided state. The materials 
seem much larger and much more easily accessible. 3 
The principal degrees of relationship, for instance, have 
common names among the Semitic as among the Aryan 
nations, and if it was important to show that the 
Aryans had named and recognized not only the natural 

1 See Bunsen's Christianity and Mankind, vol. iii. p. 246, seq. 
a Ibid. iii. 246 ; iv. 345. 



74 THE SCIENCE OF RELIGION. 

members of a family, such as father and mother, son 
and daughter, brother and sister, but also the more 
distant members, the father and mother-in-law, the 
son and daughter-in-law, the brother and sister-in-law, 
would it not be of equal interest to show that the Se- 
mitic nations had reached the same degree of civiliza- 
tion long before the time of the laws of Moses ? 

Confining ourselves to the more immediate object of 
our researches, we see without difficulty that the Se- 
mitic languages, like the Aryan languages, possess a 
number of names of the Deity in common, which 
must have existed before the Southern or Arabic, the 
Northern or Aramaic, the Middle or Hebraic branches 
became permanently separated, and which, therefore, 
allow us an insight into the religious conceptions of 
the once united Semitic race long before Jehovah was 
worshipped by Abraham, or Baal was invoked in 
Phenicia, or El in Babylon. 

It is true, as I pointed out before, that the meaning 
of many of these names is more general than the orig- 
inal meaning of the names of the Aryan gods. Many 
of them signify Powerful, Venerable, Exalted, King, 
Lord, and they might seem, therefore, like honorific 
titles, to have been given independently by the differ- 
ent branches of the Semitic family to the gods whom 
they worshipped each in their own sanctuaries. But 
if we consider how many words there were in the Se- 
mitic languages to express greatness, strength, or lord- 
ship, the fact that the same appellatives occur as the 
proper names of the deity in Syria, in Carthage, in 
Babylon, and in Palestine, admits of one historical ex- 
planation only. There must have been a time for the 
Semitic as well as for the Aryan races, when they fixed 
the names of their deities, and that time must have 



THIRD LECTURE. 75 

preceded the formation of their separate languages and 
separate religions. 

One of the oldest names of the deity among the an- 
cestors of the Semitic nations was El, It meant Strong. 
It occurs in the Babylonian inscriptions as Ilu, God, 1 
and in the very name of Bab-il, the gate or temple of 
II. In Hebrew it occurs both in its general sense of 
strong or hero, and as a name of God ; and we find it 
applied, not to the true God only, but also to the gods 
of the Gentiles or to false gods. We have it in Beth-el, 
the house of God, and in many other names. If used 
with the article, as ha-El, the Strong One, or the God, 
it always is meant in the Old Testament for Jehovah, 
the true God. 

The same El was worshipped at Byblus by the Phe- 
nicians, and he was called there the son of Heaven 
and Earth. 2 His father was the son of Eliun, the 
most high God, who had been killed by wild animals. 
The son of Eliun, who succeeded him, was dethroned, 
and at last slain by his own son El, whom Philo iden- 
tifies with the Greek Kronos, and represents as the 
presiding deity of the planet Saturn. 3 In the Himy- 
aritic inscriptions, too, the name of El has been dis- 
covered. 4 

With the name of El, Philo connected" the name of 
Elohim, the plural of Eloah. In the battle between 

El and his father, the allies of El, he says, were called 

i 

1 Schrader, in Zeitschrifi der Deutschen Morgenlandischen Gesellschaft, 
vol. xxiii. p. 350. 

2 Bunsen, Etfypt, iv. 187. Fraqmenta Hist. Grcec, vol. iii. p. 567. 

8 Fragmenta Hist. Grcec, iii. pp. 567-571. That El is the presiding 
deity of the planet Saturn according to the Chaldaeans is also con- 
firmed by Diodorus Siculus, ii. 30-3. 

4 Osiander, Zeitschrifi der Deutschen Morgenlandischen GeseUschqfl, 
x. 61. 



76 THE SCIENCE OF RELIGION. 

Eloeim, as those who were with Kronos were called 
Kronioi. 1 This is, no doubt, a very tempting etymol- 
ogy of Moah; but as the best Semitic scholars, and 
particularly Professor Fleischer, have declared against 
it, we shall have, however reluctantly, to surrender it. 
Eloah is the same word as the Arabic ilah, God. 

In the singular, Eloah is used in the Bible synony- 
mously with El; in the plural it may mean gods in 
general, or false gods, but it becomes in the Old Tes- 
tament the recognized name of the true God, plural in 
form, but singular in meaning. In Arabic, ilah, with- 
out the article, means a God in general ; with the ar- 
ticle, Al-Ilah, or Allah, becomes the name of the God 
of Mohammed, as it was the name of the God of 
Abraham and of Moses. 

The origin of Eloah or Ilah has been frequently 
discussed by European as well as by native scholars. 
The Kamus says that there were twenty, Mohammed 
El Fasi that there were thirty, opinions about it. Pro- 
fessor Fleischer, 2 whose judgment in such matters we 
may trust implicitly, traces El, the strong one, back to 
a root al (with middle vav, aval), to be thick and 
dense, to be fleshy and strong. But he takes Eloah or 
llah for an abstract noun, in the sense of fear, derived 
from a totally different root, namely, alah, to be agi- 
tated, confounded, perplexed. From meaning fear, 
Eloah came to mean the object of fear or reverence, 

1 Frag. Hist. Grcec, iii. 568, 18. ol tie avfifiaxoL 'HXov tov Kpovov 
'Ehoeifi ensKkqQrjaav, uc av Kpovioi ovtol 'riaav ol teyofiepoi knl Kpovov. 

2 See a note by Professor Fleischer in Delitzsch, Commentar uber die 
Genesis, third ed. 1860, p. 64; also Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgen- 
landischen Gesellschaft, vol. x. p. 60 ; and Sitzungsberichte der Jconigl. 
Sachsischen Gesellschaft der Wissensckaften, Philosoph. Hist. Classe, vol. 
xviii. (1866), pp. 290-292. Dr. W. Wright adopts Prof. Fleischer's 
derivation; likewise Prof. Kuenen, in his work, De Godsdienst van 
Israel, p. 45. 



THIED LECTURE. 77 

and thus became a name of God. In the same way 
we find paehact, which means fear, used in the sense 
of God ; Gen. xxxi. 42 : " Except the God of my 
father, the God of Abraham, and the fear of Isaac had 
been with me." And again, v. 53 : " And Jacob 
sware by the fear of his father Isaac." In Aramaic, 
dachla, fear, is the recognized name for God or for an 
idol. 

The same ancient name appears also in its feminine 
form as Allot. 1 Her famous temple at ^aif, in Arabia, 
was second only in importance to the sanctuary of 
Mekkah, and was destroyed at the command of Mo- 
hammed. The worship of Allat, however, was not 
confined to this one place ; and there can be no doubt 
that the Arabian goddess Alibat, mentioned by Herod- 
otus, 2 is the same as the Allot of the Koran. 

Another famous name of the deity, traces of which 
can be found among most of the Semitic nations, is 
Baal or Bel. The Assyrians and Babylonians, 3 the 
Phenicians 4 and Carthaginians, the Moabites and 
Philistines, and, we must add, the Jews also, all knew 
of Bel or Baal as a great, or even as the supreme God. 
Baal can hardly be considered as a strange and foreign 
god in the eyes of the Jewish people, who in spite of 
the protests of the Hebrew prophets, worshipped him 
so constantly in the groves of Jerusalem. He was felt 
by them almost as a home deity, or, at all events, as a 

1 Osiander, Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenlandischen Gesellschaft, 
vii. pp. 479-482. Allat, goddess, is contracted from Al-Hahat. 

2 Herod, iii. 8. 'Ovofia^ofiac (oi 'Apa(3ioi) rdv fiev Aiowaov 'Oparah, 
tt)v 6e Ovpavifiv 'Alilar. In Herod, i. 131, 138, this name is corrupted 
to 'ATurra. See Osiander, Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenlandischen 
Gesellschaft, ii. 482, 483. 

8 Fragmenta Hist. Grcec, ii. 498, 2. 
* Ibid. iii. 568, 21. 



78 THE SCIENCE OF RELIGION. 

Semitic deity, and among the gods whom the fathers 
served on the other side of the flood, Bel held most 
likely a very prominent place. Though originally one, 1 
Baal became divided into many divine' personalities 
through the influence of local worship. We hear of a 
Baal-tsur, Baal-tsidon, Baal-tars, originally the Baal 
of Tyre, of Sidon, and Tarsus. On two candelabra 
found on the island of Malta we read the Phenician 
dedication to " Melkarth, the Baal of Tyre." At She- 
chem Baal was worshipped as Baal-barith, 2 supposed 
to mean the god of treaties ; at Ekron the Philistines 
worshipped him as Baal-zebub? the lord of flies ; while 
the Moabites, and the Jews too, knew him also by the 
name of Baal-peor.* On Phenician coins Baal is 
called Baal Shamayim, the Baal of heaven, which is the 
Beelsamen of Philo, identified by him with the sun. 5 
" When the heat became oppressive, the ancient races 
of Phenicia," he says, " lifted their hand heavenward 
to the sun. For him they considered the only God, 
the lord of heaven, calling him Beelsamen, 6 which 
with the Phenicians is lord of heaven, and with the 
Greeks Zeus." We likewise hear of Baalim, or many 
Baals or gods. And in the same way as by the side 
of the male Hah or Allah we found a female Allot, we 
also find by the side of the male Baal, a female deity 
Baalt, the Baaltis of the Phenicians. It may be that 
the original conception of female deities differs among 

1 M. de Vogue, Journal Asiatique, 1867, p. 135. 

2 Judges viii. 33 ; ix. 4. 8 2 Kings i. 2, 3, 16. 4 Numbers xxv. 
6 Fragmenta Hist. Grcec. iii. 565, 5. It is impossible to change t)7jjov 

into ifhov, because El or Kronos is mentioned afterwards. 

6 Is this the same as Barsamus, mentioned by Moses of Chorene 
(Hist. Arm. i. 13) as a deified hero worshipped by the Syrians ? Or is 
Barsamus the Son of Heaven ? See Rawlinson, Ancient Monarchies, 
vol. i.p. 116. 



THIRD LECTURE. 79 

Semitic and Aryan nations, and that these feminine 
forms of Allah and Baal were at first intended only to 
express the energy or activity, or the collective powers 
of the deity, not a separate being, least of all a wife. 
This opinion 1 is certainly confirmed when we see that 
in a Carthaginian inscription the goddess Tanit is 
called the face of Baal, and that in the inscription of 
Eshmunazar, the Sidonian Astarte is called the name 
of Baal, In course of time, however, this abstract 
idea was supplanted by that of a female power, and 
even a wife, and as such we find Baaltis worshipped 
by Phenicians, 2 Babylonians, and Assyrians ; 3 for the 
name of Mylitta in Herodotus 4 is, according to Dr. 
Oppert, a mere corruption of Baaltis. 

Another famous female goddess is Ashtoreth, a name 
which presupposes a masculine deity, Ashtar. Traces 
of this god have been discovered in the Ishtar of the 
Babylonian inscriptions, and more recently in the Ash- 
tar of the Moabite stone. In this case, however, the 
female deity became predominant, and was worshipped, 
not only by Carthaginians, Phenicians, and Philis- 
tines, but. likewise by the Jews, 5 when they forsook the 
Lord, and served Baal and Ashtaroth. 6 The Syrians 
called her Astarte, and by that ominous name she be- 
came known to Greeks and Romans. When Jeremiah 
speaks of the Queen of Heaven, 7 this can only be 
meant for Astarte, or Baaltis. Even in Southern 
Arabia there are traces of the worship of this ancient 
goddess. For in San&, the ancient capital of the Him- 
yaritic kingdom, there was a magnificent palace and 
temple dedicated to Venus (Bait Ghumdan),and the 

1 De Vogue, 1. c. p. 138. 2 Fragmenta Hist. Grcec. iii. 569, 25. 

8 Ibid. iv. 283, 9. * Herod, i. 131, 199. « 1 Kings xi. 5. 

6 Judges iii. 12. ? Jer. vii. 18. 



80 THE SCIENCE OF KELIGION. 

name of Athtar has been read in the Himyaritic in- 
scriptions : nay, it is preceded in one place by the verb 
in the masculine gender. 1 

Another word, meaning originally king, which must 
have been fixed upon as a name of the Deity in pre- 
historic times, is the Hebrew Melech. We find it in 
Moloch, who was worshipped, not only at Carthage, in 
the Islands of Crete and Rhodes, but likewise in the 
valley of Hinnom. We find the same word in Milcom, 
the god of the Ammonites, who had a sanctuary in 
Mount Olivet ; and the gods Adrammelech and Anam- 
rnelech, to whom the Sepharvites burnt their children 
in the fire, 2 seem again but local varieties of the same 
Semitic idol. 

Adonaiy which in Hebrew means my lord, and in 
the Old Testament is used exclusively of Jehovah, 
appears in Phenicia as the name of the Supreme 
Deity, and after undergoing manifold mythological 
transformations, the same name has become familiar 
to us through the Greek tales about the beautiful 
youth Adonis, loved by Aphrodite, and killed by the 
wild boar of Ares. 

Ely on, which in Hebrew means the Highest, is 
used in the Old Testament as a predicate of God. It 
occurs also by itself as a name of Jehovah. Melchiz- 
edek is called emphatically the priest of El elyon, the 
priest of the most high God. 

But this name, again, is not restricted to Hebrew. 
It occurs in the Phenician cosmogony as Eliun, the 
highest God, the Father of Heaven, who was the 

1 Osiander, 1. c. p. 472 ; Gildemeister, Zeitschrift der D. M. G. 
xxiv. pp. 180, 181 ; Lenormant, Comptesrendus des seances de I'Acad. 
des incriptions et bellesJettres de I'annee 1867; Levy, Zeitschrift der D. 
M. G. xxiv. p. 189. 

2 2 Kings xvii. 31. 



THIRD LECTURE. 81 

father of EL Dr. Oppert has identified this Eliun 
with the lllinus mentioned by Damascius. 

Another word used in the Bible, sometimes in com- 
bination with El, and more frequently alone, as a 
name of the supreme deity, is Shaddai, the Powerful. 
It comes from a kindred root to that which has yielded 
the substantive Shed, meaning demon in the language 
of the Talmud, and the plur. Shedim, a name for false 
gods or idols in the Old Testament. This name occurs 
as Set or Sed in the hieroglyphic inscriptions. 1 It is 
there the name of a god introduced by the shepherds, 
and one of his surnames is given as Baal. The same 
deity Shaddai, the Powerful, has, by a clever conjec- 
ture, been discovered as one of the deities worshipped 
by the ancient Phenicians. 2 

While these names of the Deity and some others 
are shared in common by all, or by the most important 
members of the Semitic family, and must therefore 
have existed previous to the first Semitic separation, 
there are others peculiar to each branch. 

Thus the name of Jehovah, or Jahveh? as it seems 
originally to have been pronounced, seems to me to be 
a divine name peculiar to the Jews. It is true that 
in a well-known passage of Lydus, IAO 4 is said to 
have been the name of God among the Chaldaeans. 
But granting that IAO was the same word as Jahveh 

1 De Vogue, 1. c. p. 160. 

2 Bunsen, Egypt, iv. 221. De Vogue, Melanges d' Archeologie, p. 77. 
8 Theodoret. Quest, xv. ad Exodum (420 a. d.): Katovoi de avro 

Safiapeirat IABE, 'lovdaioi 6e IAG. Diod. Sic. i. 94 (59 b. c.) : rcapa 
de Tolg 'lovdatotg Mwvct^v tqv 'lad imna'kovfievov &eov, k. t. A. 

4 Lydus, De Mensibus, iv. 38, 14 : 01 XaAdatoi tov deov IA£2 Xeyovai, 
avn, tov <pud votjtov tjj $oivlkuv ykkacrr) kol 2ABAQ0 6e rcoXkaxo^ 
Tjeyerat, oiov 6 vnep Toi)g £7rrf irokove, TOVTeonv -6 drjfuovpyoc. Bunsen, 
Egypt, iv. 193; Renan, Sanchoniathon, p. 44, note. And see Diodorus 
Siculus, i. 94, 2. 



82 THE SCIENCE OF RELIGION. 

or Jehovah or Jah (as in Hallelu-jah), may not Lydus 
by the Chaldaeans have simply meant the Jews ? If, 
as Sir Henry Rawlinson maintains, the name of Jeho- 
vah occurred in the Babylonian inscriptions, the case 
would be different ; we should then have to admit that 
this name, too, was fixed before the Semitic family was 
broken up ; but until this is fully proved, we shaH be 
justified in claiming Jehovah as a name of the Deity 
peculiar to Hebrew, or, at all events, as fixed by the 
Hebrew prophets in the sense of the one true God, 
opposed to all other gods of the Semitic race. 1 

But whether we include or exclude the name of Je- 
hovah, we have, I think, sufficient witnesses to estab- 
lish what we wished to establish, namely, that there 
was a period during which the ancestors of the Semitic 
family had not yet been divided, whether in language 
or in religion. That period transcends the recollection 
of every one of the Semitic races in the same way as 
neither Hindus, Greeks, nor Romans have any recol- 
lection of the time when they spoke a common lan- 
guage, and worshipped their Father in heaven by a 
name that was as yet neither Sanskrit, nor Greek, nor 
Latin. But I do not hesitate to call this pre-historic 
period historical in the best sense of the word.. . It was 
a real period, because, unless it was real, all the reali- 
ties of the Semitic languages and the Semitic religions, 
such as we find them after their separation, would be 
unintelligible. Hebrew, Syriac, and Arabic point to 
a common source as much as Sanskrit, Greek, and 
Latin ; and unless we can bring ourselves to doubt 

1 Lobeck, Aglaopkamus, p. 461. Sir H. Rawlinson has kindly in- 
formed me that he doubts whether Yahu, which occurs in the sense of 
God in the Assyrian inscription, belonged properly to the Assyrian lan- 
guage. He thinks that it may have been borrowed from Syria, and 
adopted with the language, as were so many other foreign terms. 



THIRD LECTURE. 83 

that the Hindus, the Greeks, the Romans, and the 
Teutons derived the worship of their principal deity 
from their common Aryan sanctuary, we shall not be 
able to deny that there was likewise a primitive relig- 
ion of the whole Semitic race, and that El, the Strong 
One in Heaven, was invoked by the ancestors of all 
the Semitic races, before there were Babylonians in 
Babylon, Phenicians in Sidon and Tyrus, before there 
were Jews in Mesopotamia or Jerusalem. The evi- 
dence of the Semitic is the same as that of the Aryan 
languages ; the conclusion cannot be different. 

We now come to the third nucleus of language, and 
as I hope to show, of religion also, — to that which 
forms the foundation of the Turanian world. The 
subject is extremely difficult, and I confess I doubt 
whether I shall succeed in engaging your sympathy in 
favor of the religious opinions of people so strange, so 
far removed from us, as the Chinese, the Mongolians, 
the Samoyedes, the Finns, and Lapps. We naturally 
take an interest in the ancient history of the Aryan 
and Semitic nations, for, after all, we are ourselves 
Aryan in language, and Semitic, at least to a certain 
extent, in religion. But what have we in common 
with the Turanians, with Chinese and Samoyedes? 
Very little, it may seem ; and yet it is not very little, 
for it is our common humanity. It is not the yellow 
skin and the high cheek-bones that make the man. 
Nay, if we look but steadily into those black Chinese 
eyes, we shall find that there, too, there is a soul that 
responds to a soul, and that the God whom they mean 
is the same God whom we mean, however helpless 
their utterance, however imperfect their worship. 

If we take the religion of China as the earliest 
representative of Turanian worship, the question is, 



84 THE SCIENCE OF KELIGION. 

whether we can find any names of the Deity in Chi- 
nese which appear again in the religions and mytholo- 
gies of other Turanian tribes, such as the Mandshus, 
the Mongolians, the Tatars, or Finns. I confess that, 
considering the changing and shifting character of the 
Turanian languages, considering also the long interval 
of time that must have passed between the first lin- 
guistic and religious settlement in China, and the later 
gradual and imperfect consolidation of the other Tu- 
ranian races, I was not very sanguine in my expecta- 
tion that any such names as Dyaus Pitar among the 
Aryans, or El and Baal among the Shemites, could 
have survived in the religious traditions of the vast 
Turanian world. However, there is no reason why 
we should not look for such names in Chinese, Mon- 
golian, and Turkish ; still less, why we should pass 
them by with indifference or incredulity, because, from 
the very nature of the case, their coincidence is not so 
striking and convincing as that of the Semitic and 
Aryan names of the Deity. There are in researches 
of this kind different degrees of certainty, and I am 
the very last person to slur them over, and to repre- 
sent all our results as equally certain. But if we want 
to arrive at terra Jirma, we must not mind a plunge 
now and then ; and if we wish to mount a ladder, we 
must not be afraid of taking the first step. The coin- 
cidences between the religious phraseology of Chinese 
and other Turanian languages are certainly not like 
the coincidences between Greek and Sanskrit, or be- 
tween Hebrew and Phenician ; but they are such that 
they ought not to be neglected by the pioneers of a 
new science. 

You remember that the popular worship of ancient 
China was a worship of single spirits, of powers, or, 



THIRD LECTURE. 85 

we might almost say, of names ; the names of the 
most prominent powers of nature which are supposed 
to exercise an influence for good or evil on the life of 
man. We find a belief in spirits of the sky, the sun, 
the moon, the stars, the earth, the mountains, the riv- 
ers; to say nothing as yet of the spirits of the de- 
parted. In China, where there always has been a 
strong tendency towards order and regularity, some 
kind of system has been superinduced by the recogni- 
tion of two powers, one active, the other passive, one 
male, the other female, which comprehend everything, 
and which, in the mind of the more enlightened, tower 
high above the great crowd of minor spirits. These 
two powers are within and beneath and behind every- 
thing that is double in nature, and they have fre- 
quently been identified with heaven and earth. We 
can clearly see, however, that the spirit of heaven 
occupied from the beginning a much higher position 
than the spirit of the earth. It is in the historical 
books only, in the Shu King, 1 that we are told that 
heaven and earth together are the father and mother 
of all things. In the ancient poetry Heaven alone is 
both father and mother. 2 This spirit of heaven is 
known in Chinese by the name of Tien, and wherever 
in other religions we should expect the name of the' 
supreme deity, whether Jupiter or Allah, we find in 
Chinese the name of Tien or sky. This Tien, accord- 
ing to the Imperial Dictionary of Kanghee, means the 

1 In the Shu-king (3, 11) Tien is called Shang-tien, or High Heaven, 
which is synonymous with Shang-te, High Spirit, another very common 
name of the supreme deity. The Confucians never made any image 
of Shang-te, but the Taosse represented their (Yah-hwang) Shang-te 
under the human form. Medhurst, Inquiry, p. 46. 

2 Chalmers, Origin of the Chinese, p. 14 ; Medhurst, 1. c. p. 124 ; 
contrast between Shins and Shangti. 



86 THE SCIENCE OF RELIGION. 

Great One, he that dwells on high and regulates all 
below. We see in fact that Tien, originally the name 
of the sky, has passed in Chinese through nearly all 
the phases, from the lowest to the highest, through 
which the Aryan name for sky, dyaus, passed in the 
poetry, the religion, mythology, and philosophy of 
India and Greece. The sign of tien in Chinese is com- 
pounded of two signs : ta, which means great, and yih, 
which means one. The sky, therefore, was conceived 
as the One, the Peerless, and as the Great, the High, 
the Exalted. I remember reading in a Chinese book, 
" As there is but one sky, how can there be many 
gods?" In fact, their belief in Tien, the spirit of 
heaven, moulded the whole of the religious phraseology 
of the Chinese. " The glorious heaven," we read, " is 
called bright, it accompanies you wherever you go ; 
the glorious heaven is called luminous, it goes wher- 
ever you roam." Tien is called the ancestor of all 
things; the highest that is above. He is called the 
great framer, who makes things as a potter frames an 
earthen vessel. The Chinese also speak of the de- 
crees and the will of Heaven, of the steps of Heaven 
or Providence. The sages who teach the people are 
sent by Heaven, and Confucius himself is said to have 
been used by Heaven as the " alarum " of the world. 
The same Confucius, when on the brink of despond- 
ency, because no one, would believe in him, knows of 
one comfort only ; that comfort is, " Heaven knows 
me." It is clear from many passages that with Con- 
fucius Tien or the Spirit of Heaven was the supreme 
deity, and that he looked upon the other gods of the 
people, the spirits of the air, the mountains, and the 
rivers, the spirits also of the departed, very much with 
the same feeling with which Sokrates regarded the 



THIRD LECTURE. 87 

mythological deities of Greece. Thus when asked on 
one occasion how the spirits should be served, he re- 
plied, "If we are not able to serve men, how can we 
serve the spirits ? " And at another time he said in 
his short and significant manner, " Respect the Gods, 
and Jkeep them at a distance." 1 

We have now to see whether we can find any traces 
of this belief in a supreme spirit of heaven among the 
other branches of the Turanian class, the Mandshus, 
Mongolians, Tatars, Finns, or Lapps. As there are 
many names for sky in the Turanian dialects, it would 
not be absolutely necessary that we should find the 
same name which we found in Chinese ; yet, if traces 
of that name could be found among Mongolians and 
Tatars, our argument would, no doubt, gain far greater 
strength. It is the same in all researches of compara- 
tive mythology. If we find the same conceptions, the 
same myths and legends, in India, Greece, Italy, and 
Germany, there is, no doubt, some presumption in 
favor of their common origin, but no more. But if 
we meet with gods and heroes, having the same name 
in the mythology of the Veda, and the mythology of 
Greece and Rome and Germany, then we stand on 
firmer ground. We have then to deal with real facts 
that cannot be disputed, and all that remains is to ex- 
plain them. In Turanian mythology, however, such 
facts are not easily brought together. . With the excep- 
tion of China, we know very little of the ancient his- 
tory of the Turanian races, and what we know of their 
present state comes frequently from prejudiced observ- 
ers. Besides, their old heathendom is fast disappearing 
before the advance of Buddhism, Mohammedanism, and 
Christianity. Yet if we take the accounts of the most 
1 Medhurst, Reply to Dr. Boone, p. 32. 



88 THE SCIENCE OF RELIGION. 

trustworthy travellers in Central and Northern Asia, 
and more particularly the careful observations of Cas- 
tren, we cannot but recognize some most striking coin- 
cidences in the scattered notices of the religion of the 
Tungusic, Mongolic, Tataric, and Finnic tribes. Every- 
where we find a worship of the spirits of nature, of the 
spirits of the departed, though, behind and above it 
there rises the belief in some higher power, known by 
different names, sometimes called the Father, the Old 
One, who is the Maker and Protector of the world, 
and who always resides in heaven. Chinese historians 
are the only writers who give us an account of the 
earlier history of some of these Turanian tribes, par- 
ticularly of the Huns, whom they call Hiongnu, and 
of the Turks, whom they call Tukiu. They relate 1 
that the Huns worshipped the sun, the moon, the 
spirits of the sky and the earth, and the spirits of the 
departed, and that their priests, the Shamans, possessed 
a power over the clouds, being able to bring down 
snow, hail, rain, and wind. 2 

Menander, a Byzantine historian, relates of the Turks 
that in his time they worshipped the fire, the water, 
and the earth, but that at the same time they believed 
in a God, the maker of the world, and offered to him 
sacrifices of camels, oxen, and sheep. 

Still later we get some information from mediaeval 
travellers, such as Piano Carpini, and Marco Polo, who 
say that the Mongol tribes paid great reverence to the 
sun, the fire, and the water, but that they believed also 
in a great and powerful God, whom they called Nata- 
gai (Natigay) or Itoga. 

In modern times we have chiefly to depend on Cas- 

1 Castren, Vorlesungen ueber Finnische Mythdogie, p. 2. 

2 Ibid. 1. c. p. 36. 



THIRD LECTURE. 89 

tre*n, who had eyes to see and ears to hear what few 
other travellers would have seen or heard, or under- 
stood. Speaking of the Tungusic tribes, he says, " They 
worship the sun, the moon, the stars, the earth, fire, 
the spirits of forests, rivers, and certain sacred locali- 
ties ; they worship even images and fetiches, but with 
all this they retain a faith in a supreme being which 
they call Buga." 1 "The Samoyedes," he says, "wor- 
ship idols and various natural objects ; but they always 
profess a belief in a higher divine power which they 
call Num." 

This deity which is called Num, is also called Juma 
by the Samoyedes, 2 and is in fact the same deity which 
in the grand mythology of Finland is known under the 
name of Jumala. The mythology of Finland has been 
more carefully preserved than the mythologies of all 
the other Altaic races, and in their ancient epic poems, 
which have been kept up by oral tradition for centu- 
ries, and have been written down but very lately, we 
have magnificent descriptions of Jumala, the deity of 
the sky. Jumala meant originally the sky. It is de- 
rived, as Castre*n has shown, 3 from Juma, thunder, and 
la, the place, meaning therefore, the place of thunder, 
or the sky. It is used first of all for sky, secondly for 
god of the sky, and thirdly for gods in general. The 
very same word, only modified according to the pho- 
netic rules of each language, occurs among the Lapps, 4 
the Esthonians, the Syrjanes, the Tcheremissians, and 
the Votyakes. 6 We can watch the growth and the 
changes of this heavenly deity as we catch a glimpse 
here and there of the religious thoughts of these Altaic^ 
tribes. An old Samoyede woman who was asked by 

1 Is this the Eussian "bog," god? 2 Castren, 1. c. p. 13. 

8 Page 24. 4 Page 11. 5 Page 24. 



90 THE SCIENCE OF RELIGION. 

Castre*n 1 whether she ever said her prayers, replied, 
" Every morning I step out of my tent and bow before 
the sun, and say : * When thou risest, I, too, rise from 
my bed.' And every evening I say : ' When thou 
sinkest down, I too, sink down to rest.' " That was 
her prayer, perhaps the whole of her religious service, 
— a poor prayer it may seem to us, but not to her ; for 
it made that old woman look twice at least every day 
away from earth and up to heaven ; it implied that her 
life was bound up with a larger and higher life ; it 
encircled the daily routine of her earthly existence with 
something of a divine halo. She herself was evidently 
proud of it, for she added, with a touch of self-right- 
eousness, " There are wild people who never say their 
morning and evening prayers." 

As in this case the deity of the sky is represented, 
as it were, by the sun, we see Jumala, under differ- 
ent circumstances, conceived as the deity of the sea. 
When walking one evening with a Samoyede sailor 
along the coast of the Polar Sea, Castren asked him, 
" Tell me, where is Num ? " (i. e. Jumala.) Without 
a moment's hesitation the old sailor pointed to the 
dark, distant sea, and said, " He is there" 

Again, in the epic poem Kalev&la, when the hostess 
of Pohjola is in labor, she calls on Jumala, and says, 
" Come now into the bath, Jumala, into the warmth, 
O lord of the air!" 2 

At another time Jumala is the god of the air, and is 
invoked in the following lines : 3 — 

" Harness now thyself, Jumala, 
• Kuler of the air, thy horses ! 

Bring them forth, thy rapid racers, 
Drive the sledge with glittering colors, 

i Page 16. 2 Page 19. 8 Page 21. 



THIRD LECTURE. 91 

Passing through our bones, our ankles, 
Through our flesh that shakes and trembles, 
Through our veins which seem all broken. 
Knit the flesh and bones together, 
Fasten vein to vein more firmly. 
Let our joints be filled with silver, 
Let our veins with gold be running ! " 

In all these cases the deity invoked is the same, it is 
the deity of the sky, Jumala ; but so indefinite is his 
character, that we can hardly say whether he is the 
god of the sky, or the sun, or the sea, or the air, or 
whether he is a supreme deity reflected in all these 
aspects of nature. 

However, you will naturally ask, where is there any 
similarity between the name of that deity and the Chi- 
nese deity of the sky, Tien? The common worship 
of Jumala may prove some kind of religious concen- 
tration among the different Altaic nations in the North 
of Asia, but it does not prove any pre-historic commu- 
nity of worship between those nations and the ancient 
inhabitants of China. It is true that the Chinese Tien 
with its three meanings of sky, god of the sky, and god 
in general, is the exact counterpart of the North Tu- 
ranian Jumala ; but still we want more ; we want traces 
of the same name of the deity in China, in Mongolia, 
and Tatary, just as we found the name of Jupiter in 
India and Italy, and the name of El in Babylon and 
Palestine. 

Well, let us remember that Chinese is a monosyllabic 
language, and that the later Turanian dialects have en- 
tered into the agglutinative stage, that is to say, that 
they use derivative suffixes, and we shall then without 
much difficulty discover traces of the Chinese word 
Tien, with all its meanings, among some at least of the 
most important of the Turanian races. In the Mongo- 



92 THE SCIENCE OF RELIGION. 

lian language we find Teng-ri, 1 and this means, first, 
sky ; then, god of the sky ; then, god in general ; and 
lastly, spirit or demon, whether good or bad. 

I think you will see the important bearing of this 
discovery, for it clinches the argument as nothing else 
could have clinched it. Unless we had found the same 
name of the supreme deity in the hymns of the Veda 
and in the prayer of the priestesses at Dodona, we 
could not have forced the conviction that it was origi- 
nally one and the same conception of divine person- 
ality, that had been worshipped long before the Hindus 
had entered India, or the dove had alighted on the oak 
of Dodona. The same applies to the Chinese Tien 
and the Mongolian TengrL And this is not all. By 
a fortunate accident the Turanian name of Tengri can 
be traced back from the modern Mongolian to an ear- 
lier period. Chinese authors, in their accounts of the 
early history of the Huns, tell us that the title given 
by the Huns to their leaders was tangli-kutu (or tchen- 
jii). 2 This tangli-kutu meant in their language Son of 
Heaven, and you will remember that the same name, 
Son of Heaven, is still given to the Chinese Emperor. 8 
It does not mean Son of God, but Emperor by the 
grace of God. Now the Chinese title is tien-tze, cor- 
responding to the Hunnish tangli-kutu. Hence Hun- 
nish tang-li, or Mongolian teng^ri, are the same as the 
Chinese Tien. 

Again, in the historical accounts which the Chinese 
give of the Tukiu, the ancestors of the Turks, it is said 
that they worshipped the spirits of the Earth, and that 
they called these spirits pu-teng-i-lL Here the first 

1 Turkish " tangry " (or tenri), the Yakute " tangara." 

2 Schott, Ueber dans Altaische Sprachgeschlecht, p. 9. 
8 Schott, Chinesische Literatur, p. 63. 



THIED LECTURE. 93 

syllable must be intended for earth, while in teng-i-li 
we have again the same word as the Mongolian tengri, 
only used, even at that early time, no longer in the 
sense of heaven, or god of heaven, but as a name of 
gods and spirits in general. We find a similar transi- 
tion of meaning in the modern Yakute word tangara. 
It means the sky, and it means God ; but among the 
Christian converts in Siberia, tangara is also used to 
signify " the Saints.'* The wild reindeer is called in 
Yakute God's reindeer, because it lives in the open air, 
or because God alone takes care of it. 

Here, then, we have the same kind of evidence 
which enabled us to establish a primitive Aryan and a 
primitive Semitic religion : we have a common name, 
and this name given to the highest deity, preserved in 
the monosyllabic language of China, and in the cog- 
nate, though agglutinative, dialects of some of the 
principal North Turanian tribes. We find in these 
words, not merely a vague similarity of sound and 
meaning, but, watching their growth in Chinese, Mon- 
golian, and Turkish, we are able to discover in them 
traces of organic identity. Everywhere they begin 
with the meaning of sky, they rise to the meaning of 
God, and they sink down again to the meaning of gods 
and spirits. The changes in the meaning of these 
words run parallel with the changes that took place in 
the religions of these nations, which in China, as else- 
where, combine the worship of numberless spirits with 
the belief in a supreme heavenly deity. 

Did we allow ourselves to be guided by mere simi- 
larity of sound and meaning, it would be easy, for in- 
stance, to connect the name given to the highest deity 
by the Samoyedes, Num, the same as the Finnish 
JumaQd), with the name used for God in the Ian- 



94 THE SCIENCE OF RELIGION. 

guage of Tibet, Nam. This might seem a most im- 
portant link, because it would help us to establish an 
original identity of religion among members of the 
North and South Turanian branches. But till we 
know something of the antecedents of the Tibetan 
word, till we know, as I said before, its organic growth, 
we cannot think of using it for such purposes. 

If we now turn for a moment to the minor spirits be- 
lieved in by the large masses in China, we shall easily 
see that they, too, in their character are strikingly like 
the spirits worshipped by the North Turanian tribes. 
These spirits in Chinese are called Shin, 1 which is 
really the name given to every invisible power or in- 
fluence which can be perceived in operation in the uni- 
verse. Some Shin* or spirits receive real worship, 
which is graduated according to their dignity ; others 
are looked upon with fear. The spirits of pestilence 
are driven out and dispersed by exorcism ; many are 
only talked about. There are so many spirits that it 
seems impossible to fix their exact number. The prin- 
cipal classes 2 are the celestial spirits (tien shin), the 
terrestrial spirits (ti ki), and the ancestral spirits (jin 
kwei), and this is the order 3 in which they are ranked 
according to their dignity. Among celestial spirits 
(tien shin) we find the spirits of the sun and the moon 
and the stars, the clouds, wind, thunder, and rain ; 
among terrestrial spirits, those of the mountains, the 
fields, the grain, the rivers, the trees, the year. Among 
the departed spirits are those of the emperors, the 
sages, and other public benefactors, which are to be re- 

1 Medhurst, Reply, p. 11. 

2 Medhurst, Reply, 1. c, p. 21. 

8 Ibid. 1. c, p. 22. The spirits of heaven are called shin ; the spir- 
its of earth are called ki ; when men die their wandering and trans- 
formed 60uls and spirits are called kwei. 



THIRD LECTURE. 95 

vered by the whole nation, while each family has its 
own manes which are treated with special reverence 
and honored by many superstitious rites. 1 

The same state of religious feeling is exhibited among 
the North Turanian tribes, only without those minute 
distinctions and regulations in which the Chinese mind 
delights. The Samoyedes, as we saw, believed in a 
supreme god of heaven, called Num ; but Castre*n, who 
lived so long among them, says : " The chief deities 
invoked by their priests or sorcerers, the Shamans, are 
the so-called Tadebejoa? invisible spirits dwelling in 
the air, the earth, the water, and everywhere in nature. 
I have heard many a Samoyede say that they were 
merely the spirits of the departed, but others look 
upon them as a class of inferior deities." 

The same scholar tells us 8 that " the mythology of 
the Finns is flooded with names of deities. Every ob- 
ject in nature has a genius, called haltia, which is 
supposed to be its creator and protector. These spirits 
were not tied to these outward objects, but were free 
to roam about, and had a body and soul, and their own 
well-marked personality. Nor did their existence de- 
pend on the existence of a single object ; for though 
there was no object in nature without a genius, the 
genius was not confined to any single object, but com- 
prehended the whole class or genus. This mountain- 
ash, this stone, this house has its own genius, but the 
same genius cares for all other mountain-ashes, stones, 
and houses. " 

1 Medhurst, Reply, i. p. 43. The great sacrifices are offered only to 
Te or Shang-te, the same as Tien. The five Te which used to be joined 
with Shang-te at the great border sacrifice were only the five powers or 
qualities of Shang-te personified. Since the year a. d. 1369, the wor- 
ship of these five Te has been abolished. 

2 Castren, Finnische Mythologie, p. 122. 8 Page 105. 



96 THE SCIENCE OF RELIGION. 

We have only to translate this into the language of 
logic, and we shall understand at once what has hap- 
pened here as elsewhere in the growth of religious 
ideas and mythological names. What we call a gen- 
eral conception, or what used to be called u essentia 
generalise " the tree-hood," " the stone-hood," « the 
house-hood," in fact, the genus tree, stone, and house, 
is what the Finns and Samoyedes call the genius, the 
haltia, the tadebejo^ and what the Chinese call Shin, 
We speak very glibly of an essentia generalise but to 
the unschooled mind this was too great an effort. 
Something substantial and individual had to be retained 
when trees had to be spoken of as a forest, or days as a 
year ; and in this transition period from individual to 
general conceptions, from the tangible to the compre- 
hensible, from the real to the abstract, the shadow, the 
ghost, the power or the spirit of the forest, of the year, 
of the clouds, and the lightning, took possession of the 
human mind, and a class of beings was called into ex- 
istence which stands before us as so-called deities in the 
religion and mythology of the ancient world. 

The worship of ancestral spirits is likewise shared in 
common by the North Turanian races and the Chinese. 
I do not lay much stress on that fact, because the wor- 
ship of the spirits of the departed is perhaps the most 
widely spread form of natural superstition all over the 
world. It is important, however, to observe that on 
this point also, which has always been regarded as most 
characteristic of Chinese religion, there is no difference 
between China and Northern Asia. Most of the Finnish 
and Altaic tribes, says Castre'n, 1 cherish a belief that 
death, which they look upon with terrible fear, does not 
entirely destroy individual existence. And even those 
1 Page 119. 



THIRD LECTURE. 97 

who do not profess belief in a future life, observe cer- 
tain ceremonies which show that they think of the de- 
parted as still existing. They take food, dresses, oxen, 
knives, tinder-boxes, kettles, and sledges, and place 
them on the graves ; nay, if pressed, they would con- 
fess that this is done to enable the departed to hunt, to 
fish, and to fight, as they used to do when alive. Lapps 
and Finns admit that the body decays, but they imag- 
ine that a new body is given to the dead in the lower 
world. Others speak of the departed as ghosts or 
spirits, who either stay in the grave or in the realms 
of the dead, or who roam about on earth, particularly 
in the dead of night, and during storm and rain. They 
give signs of themselves in the howling of the wind, 
the rustling of leaves, the crackling of the fire, and in 
a thousand other ways. They are invisible to ordinary 
mortals, but the sorcerers or Shamans can see them, 
and can even divine their thoughts. It is curious that 
in general these spirits are supposed to be mischievous ; 
and the most mischievous of all are the. spirits of the 
departed priests. 1 They interrupt the sleep, they send 
illness and misfortunes, and they trouble the conscience 
of their relatives. Everything is done to keep them 
away. When the corpse has been carried out of the 
house, a red hot stone is thrown after the departed, as 
a charm to prevent his return. The offerings of food 
and other articles deposited on the grave are accounted 
for by some as depriving the dead of any excuse for 
coming to the house, and fetching these things himself. 
Among the Tchuvashes a son uses the following invo- 
cation when offering sacrifice to the spirit of his father : 
" We honor thee with a feast ; look, here is bread for 
thee, and different kinds of meat ; thou hast all thou 

1 Page 123. 
7 



98 THE SCIENCE OF RELIGION. 

canst want ; but do not trouble us, do not come near 
us." i 

It is certainly a general belief that if they receive no 
such offerings, the dead revenge themselves by sending 
diseases and other misfortunes. The ancient Hiongnu 
or Huns killed the prisoners of war on the tombs of 
their leaders ; for the Shamans assured them that the 
anger of the spirits could not be appeased otherwise. 
The same Huns had regular sacrifices in honor of their 
ancestral spirits. One tribe, the Topas, which had 
migrated from Siberia to Central Asia, sent ambassa- 
dors with offerings to the tombs of their ancestors. 
Their tombs were protected with high palings, to pre- 
vent the living from clambering in, and the dead from 
clambering out. Some of these tombs were magnifi- 
cently adorned, 2 and at last grew almost, and in China 3 
altogether, into temples where the spirits of the de- 
parted were actually worshipped. All this takes place 
by slow degrees ; it begins with placing a flower on 
the tombs ; it ends with worshipping the spirits of de- 
parted emperors 4 as equals of the Supreme Spirit, the 
Shang-te or Tien, and as enjoying a divine rank far 
above other spirits or Shins. The difference at first 
sight, between the minute ceremonial of China and the 
homely worship of Finns and Lapps may seem enor- 
mous ; but if we trace both back as far as we can, we 
see that the early stages of their religious belief are 
curiously alike. First, a worship of heaven, as the 
emblem of the most exalted conception which the un- 

1 Page 122. 2 Castren, 1. c, p. 122. 

3 When an emperor died, and men erected an ancestral temple, and 
set up a parental tablet (as a resting-place for the " shin " or spirit of 
the departed), they called him Te. — Medhurst, Inquiry, p. 7; from 
Le-ke, vol. i. p. 49. 

* Medhurst, Inquiry, p. 45. 



THIRD LECTURE. 99 

tutored mind of man can entertain, expanding with the 
expanding thoughts of its worshippers, and eventually 
leading and lifting the soul from horizon to horizon, to 
a belief in that which is beyond all horizons, a belief in 
that which is infinite. Secondly, a belief in deathless 
spirits or powers of nature ; which supplies the more 
immediate and every-day wants of the religious in- 
stinct of man, satisfies the imagination, and furnishes 
the earliest poetry with elevated themes. Lastly, a 
belief in the existence of ancestral spirits ; which im- 
plies, consciously or unconsciously, in a spiritual or in 
a material form, that which is one of the life-springs 
of all religion, a belief in immortality. 

Allow me in conclusion to recapitulate shortly the 
results of this lecture. 

We found, first of all, that there is a natural con- 
nection between language and religion, and that there- 
fore the classification of languages is applicable to the 
ancient religions of the world. 

We found, secondly, that there was a common Aryan 
religion before the separation of the Aryan race ; a 
common Semitic religion before the separation of the 
Semitic race ; and a common Turanic religion before 
the separation of the Chinese and the other tribes be- 
longing to the Turanian class. We found, in fact, three 
ancient centres of religion as we had found before three 
ancient centres of language, and we have thus gained, 
I believe, a truly historical basis for a scientific classi- 
fication of the principal religions of the world. 



FOURTH LECTURE. 



WHEN I came to deliver the first of this short 
course of lectures, I confess I felt sorry for hav- 
ing undertaken so difficult a task ; and if I could have 
withdrawn from it with honor, I should gladly have 
done so. Now that I have only this one lecture left, 
I feel equally sorry, and I wish I could continue my 
course, in order to say something more of what I 
wished to say, and what in four lectures I could say 
but very imperfectly. From the announcement of my 
lectures you must have seen that in what I called 
" An Introduction to the Science of Religion " I did 
not intend to treat of more than some preliminary 
questions. I chiefly wanted to show in what sense a 
truly scientific study of religion was possible, what 
materials there are to enable us to gain a trustworthy 
knowledge of the principal religions of the world, and 
according to what principles these religions may be 
classified. It would perhaps have been more interest- 
ing to some of my hearers if we had rushed at once 
into the ancient temples to look at the broken idols of 
the past, and to discover, if possible, some of the fun- 
damental ideas that found expression in the ancient 
systems of faith and worship. But in order to explore 
with real advantage any ruins, whether of stone or of 
thought, it is necessary that we should know where 



FOURTH LECTURE. 101 

to look and how to look. In most works on the history 
of ancient religions we are driven about like forlorn 
tourists in a vast museum where ancient and modern 
statues, gems of Oriental and European workmanship, 
original works of art and mere copies are piled up to- 
gether, and at the end of our journey we only feel be- 
wildered and disheartened. We have seen much, no 
doubt, but we carry away very little. It is better, be- 
fore we enter into these labyrinths, that we should 
spend a few hours in making up our minds as to what 
we really want to see and what we may pass by ; and 
if in these introductory lectures we have arrived at a 
clear view on these points, you will find hereafter that 
our time has not been spent in vain. 

Throughout these introductory lectures, you will 
have observed that I have carefully abstained from 
entering on the domain of what I call Theoretic^ as 
distinguished from Comparative Theology. Theoretic 
theology, or, as it is called, the philosophy of religion, 
has, as far as I can judge, its right place at the end, 
not at the beginning of comparative theology. I make 
no secret of my own conviction that a study of com- 
parative theology will produce with regard to theoretic 
theology the same revolution which a study of compar- 
ative philology has produced in what used to be called 
the philosophy of language. You know how all spec- 
ulations on the nature of language, on its origin, its 
development, its natural growth and inevitable decay 
have had to be taken up afresh from the very begin- 
ning, after the new light thrown on the history of 
language by the comparative method. I look forward 
to the same results with respect to philosophical inqui- 
ries into the nature of religion, its origin, and its devel- 
opment. I do not mean to say that all former specu- 



102 THE SCIENCE OF RELIGION. 

lations on these subjects will become useless. Plato's 
" Cratylus," even the " Hermes " of Harris, and Home 
Tooke's " Diversions of Purley " have not become use- 
less after the work done by Grimm and Bopp, by Hum- 
boldt and Bunsen. But I believe that philosophers 
who speculate on the origin of religion and on the 
psychological conditions of faith, will in future write 
more circumspectly, and with less of that dogmatic 
assurance which has hitherto distinguished so many 
speculations on the philosophy of religion, not except- 
ing those of Schelling and Hegel. Before the rise of 
geology it was easy to speculate on the origin of the 
earth ; before the rise of glossology, any theories on 
the revealed, the mimetic, the interjectional, or the 
conventional origin of language might easily be held 
and defended. Not so now, when facts have filled 
the place that was formerly open to theories, and when 
those who have worked most carefully among the 
debris of the earth or the strata of languages are most 
reluctant to approach the great problem of the first 
beginnings. 

So much in order to explain why in this introduc- 
tory course I have confined myself within narrower 
limits than some of my hearers seem to have expected. 
And now, as I have but one hour left, I shall try to 
make the best use of it I can, by devoting it entirely 
to the point on which I have not yet touched, namely, 
on the right spirit in which ancient religions ought to 
be studied and interpreted. 

No judge, if he had before him the worst of crim- 
inals, would treat him as most historians and theolo- 
gians have treated the religions of the world. Every 
act in the lives of their founders, which shows that 
they were but men, is eagerly seized and judged with- 



FOURTH LECTURE. 103 

out mercy ; every doctrine that is not carefully guarded 
is interpreted in the worst sense that it will bear; 
every act of worship that differs from our own way of 
serving God is held up to ridicule and contempt. And 
this is not done by accident, but with a set purpose, 
nay, with something of that artificial sense of duty 
which stimulates the counsel for the defense to see 
nothing but an angel in one client, and anything but 
an angel in the plaintiff on the other side. The result 
has been — as it could not be otherwise — a complete 
miscarriage of justice, an utter misapprehension of the 
real character and purpose of the ancient religions of 
mankind ; and, as a necessary consequence, a failure 
in discovering the peculiar features which really dis- 
tinguish Christianity from all the religions of the world, 
and secure to its founder his own peculiar place in the 
history of the world, far away from Vasish^a, Zo- 
roaster, and Buddha, from Moses and Mohammed, 
from Confucius and Lao-tse. By unduly depreciating 
all other religions, we have placed our own in a posi- 
tion which its founder never intended for it ; we have 
torn it away from the sacred context of the history of 
the world ; we have ignored, or willfully narrowed, the 
sundry times and divers manners in which, in times 
past, God spake unto the fathers by the prophets ; and 
instead of recognizing Christianity as coming in the 
fullness of time, and as the fulfillment of the hopes 
and desires of the whole world, we have brought our- 
selves to look upon its advent as the only broken link 
in that unbroken chain which is rightly called the Di- 
vine government of the world. Nay, worse than this : 
there are people who, from mere ignorance of the 
ancient religions of mankind, have adopted a doctrine 
more unchristian than any that could be found in the 



104 THE SCIENCE OF EELIGION. 

pages of the religious books of antiquity, namely, that 
all the nations of the earth, before the rise of Chris- 
tianity, were mere outcasts, forsaken and forgotten of 
their Father in heaven, without a knowledge of God, 
without a hope of salvation. If a comparative study 
of the religions of the world produced but this one 
result, that it drove this godless heresy out of every 
Christian heart, and made us see again in the whole 
history of the world the eternal wisdom and love of 
God toward all his creatures, it would have done a 
good work. And it is high time that this good work 
should be done. We have learnt to do justice to the 
ancient poetry, the political institutions, the legal enact- 
ments, the systems of philosophy, and the works of 
art of nations differing from ourselves in many respects ; 
we have brought ourselves to value even the crude 
and imperfect beginnings in all these spheres of men- 
tal activity ; and I believe we have thus learnt lessons 
from ancient history which we could not have learnt 
anywhere else. We can admire the temples of the 
ancient world, whether in Egypt, Babylon, or Greece ; 
we can stand in raptures before the statues of Phidias ; 
and only when we approach the religious conceptions 
which find their expression in the temples of Minerva 
and in the statues of Jupiter, we turn away with pity 
or scorn, we call their gods mere idols and images, 
and class their worshippers — Perikles, Phidias, Sok- 
rates, and Plato — with the worshippers of stocks and 
stones. I do not deny that the religions of the Baby- 
lonians, Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans were imper- 
fect and full of errors, particularly in their later stages ; 
but I maintain that the fact of these ancient people 
having any religion at all, however imperfect, raises 
them higher, and brings them nearer to us, than all 



FOURTH LECTURE. 105 

their works of art, all their poetry, all their philosophy. 
Neither their art nor their poetry nor their philosophy 
would have been possible without religion ; and if we 
will but look without prejudice, if we will but judge 
as we ought always to judge, with unwearying love 
and charity, we shall be surprised at that new world 
of beauty and truth which, like the azure of a vernal 
sky, rises before us from behind the clouds of the 
ancient mythologies. 

We can speak freely and fearlessly ; we can afford 
to be charitable. There was a time when it was oth- 
erwise. There was a time when people imagined that 
truth, particularly the highest truth, the truth of relig- 
ion, could only conquer by blind zeal, by fire and 
sword. At that time all idols were to be overthrown, 
their altars to be destroyed, and their worshippers to 
be cut to pieces. But there came a time when the 

sword was to be put up into its place And 

if after that time there was a work to work and a fight 
to fight, which required the fiery zeal of apostles and 
martyrs, that time also is now past; the conquest is 
gained, and we have time to reflect calmly on what is 
past and what is still to come. We are no longer 
afraid of Baal or Jupiter. Our dangers and our diffi- 
culties are now of a very different kind. If we be- 
lieve that there is a God, and that He created heaven 
and earth, and that He ruleth the world by his un- 
ceasing providence, we cannot believe that millions of 
human beings, all created like ourselves in the image 
of God, were, in their time of ignorance, so utterly 
abandoned that their whole religion was falsehood, 
their whole worship a farce, their whole life a mockery. 
An honest and independent study of the religions of 
the world will teach us that it was not so, — will teach 



106 THE SCIENCE OF RELIGION. 

us the same lesson which it taught St. Augustine, — that 
there is no religion which does not contain some grains 
of truth. Nay, it will teach us more : it will enable 
us to see in the history of the ancient religions, more 
clearly than anywhere else, the Divine education of 
the human race. 

I know this is a view which has been much objected 
to, but I hold it as strongly as ever. If we must not 
read in the history of the whole human race the daily 
lessons of a Divine teacher and guide, if there is no 
purpose, no increasing purpose in the succession of the 
religions of the world, then we might as well shut up 
the godless book of history altogether, and look upon 
men as no better than the grass which is to-day in the 
field and to-morrow cast into the oven. Man would 
then be indeed of less value than the sparrows, for 
none of them is forgotten before God. But those who 
imagine that, in order to make sure of their own sal- 
vation, they must have a great gulf fixed between 
themselves and all the other nations of the world, — 
between their own religion and the religions of Zoro- 
aster, Buddha, or Confucius, — can hardly be aware 
how strongly the interpretation of the history of the 
religions of the world, as an education of the human 
race, can be supported by authorities before which they 
themselves would probably bow in silence. We need 
not appeal to a living bishop to prove the soundness, 
or to a German philosopher to prove the truth of this 
view. If we wanted authorities we could appeal to 
Popes, to the Fathers of the Church, to the Apostles 
themselves, for they have all upheld the same view 
with no uncertain voice. 

I pointed out before that the simultaneous study of 
the Old and the New Testament, with an occasional 



FOURTH LECTURE. 107 

reference to the religion and philosophy of Greece and 
Rome, had supplied Christian divines with some of the 
most useful lessons for a wider comparison of all the 
religions of the world. In studying the Old Testa- 
ment, and observing in it the absence of some of the 
most essential truths of Christianity, they, too, had 
asked with surprise why the interval between the fall 
of man and his redemption had been so long, why men 
were allowed so long to walk in darkness, and whether 
the heathens had really no place in the counsels of 
God. Here is the answer of a Pope, of Leo the 
Great 1 (440-461): — 

" Let those who with impious murmurings find fault with the Di- 
vine dispensations, and who complain about the lateness of Our 
Lord's nativity, cease from their grievances, as if what was carried 
out in this last age of the world had not been impending in time 
past What the apostles preached, the prophets had an- 
nounced before, and what has always been believed cannot be 
said to have been fulfilled too late. By this delay of his work 
of salvation the wisdom and love of God have only made us 
more fitted for his call ; so that, what had been announced be- 
fore by many signs and words and mysteries during so many 
centuries, should not be doubtful or uncertain in the days of the 

gospel God has not provided for the interests of men by 

a new counsel or by a late compassion ; but He had instituted 
from the beginning for all men one and the same path of salva- 
tion." 

This is the language of a Pope — of Leo the Great. 
Now let us hear what St. Irenaeus says, and how he 
explains to himself the necessary imperfection of the 
early religions of mankind. " A mother," he says, 
" may indeed offer to her infant a complete repast, but 
her infant cannot yet receive the food which is meant 
for full-grown men. In the same manner God might 
indeed from the beginning have offered to man the 

1 Hardwick, Christ and other Masters, vol. i. p. 85. 



108 THE SCIENCE OF RELIGION. 

truth in its completeness, but man was unable to re- 
ceive it, for he was still a child." 

If this, too, is considered a presumptuous reading of 
the counsels of God, we have, as a last appeal, the 
words of St. Paul, that " the law was the school-master 
to the Jews," joined with the words of St. Peter, " Of 
a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons, 
but in every nation he that feareth Him and worketh 
righteousness is accepted with Him." 
* But, as I said before, we need not appeal to any au- 
thorities if we will but read the records of the ancient 
religions of the world with an open heart and in a 
charitable spirit — in a spirit that thinketh no evil, but 
rejoiceth in the truth wherever it can be found. 

I suppose that most of us, sooner or later in life, 
have felt how the whole world — this wicked world, as 
we call it — is changed as if by magic, if once we can 
make up our mind to give men credit for good motives, 
never to be suspicious, never to think evil, never to 
think ourselves better than our neighbors. Trust a 
man to be true and good, and, even if he is not, your 
trust will tend to make him true and good. It is the 
same with the religions of the world. Let us but once 
make up our mind to look in them for what is true and 
good, and we shall hardly know our old religion again. 
If they are the work of the devil, as many of us have 
been brought up to believe, then never was there a 
kingdom so divided against itself from the very begin- 
ning. There is no religion — or, if there is, I do not 
know it — which does not say, " Do good, avoid evil." 
There is none which does not contain what Rabbi Hil- 
lel called the quintessence of all religions, the simple 
warning, " Be good, my boy." " Be good, my boy," 
may seem a very short catechism ; but let us add to it, 



FOURTH LECTURE. 109 

" Be good, my boy, for God's sake," and we have in it 
very nearly the whole of the Law and the Prophets. 

I wish I could read you the extracts I have collected 
from the sacred books of the ancient world, grains of 
truth more precious to me than grains of gold ; prayers 
so simple and so true that we could all join in them 
if we once accustomed ourselves to the strange sounds 
of Sanskrit or Chinese. I can to-day give you a few 
specimens only. 

Here is a prayer of Vasish^a, a Vedic prophet, ad- 
dressed to Varuwa, the Greek Ofyavos, an ancient name 
of the sky and of the god who resides in the sky. 

I shall read you one verse at least in the original — 
it is the 86th hymn of the seventh book of the Rig- 
Veda — so that you may hear the very sounds which 
more than three thousand years ago were uttered for 
the first time in a village on the borders of the Sut- 
ledge, then called the $atadru, by a man who felt as 
we feel, who spoke as we speak, who believed in many 
points as we believe — a dark-complexioned Hindu, 
shepherd, poet, priest, patriarch, and certainly a man 
who, in the noble army of prophets, deserves a place 
by the side of David. And does it not show the in- 
destructibility of the spirit, if we see how the waves 
which, by a poetic impulse, he started on the vast 
ocean of thought have been heaving, and spreading, 
and widening, till after centuries and centuries they 
strike against our shores and tell us, in accents that 
cannot be mistaken, what passed through the mind of 
that ancient Aryan poet when he felt the presence of 
an Almighty God, the maker of heaven and earth, and 
felt at the same time the burden of his sin, and prayed 
to his God that He might take that burden from him, 
that He might forgive him his sin. When you listen 



110 THE SCIENCE OF RELIGION. 

to the strange sounds of the Vedic hymn, you are lis- 
tening, even in this Royal Institution, to spirit-rapping 
— to real spirit-rapping. Vasish^Aa is really among us 
again, and if you will accept me as interpreter, you 
will find that we can all understand what the old poet 
wished to say : — 

Dhira tv asya mahina ^anumshi, 
vi yas tastambha rodasi kid urvi, 
pra nakam rishvam nunude brihantam, 
dvita nakshatram paprathafc ka, bhuma. 

Wise and mighty are the works of him who stemmed asunder 
the wide firmaments (heaven and earth). He lifted on high the 
bright and glorious heaven ; he stretched out apart the starry 
sky and the earth. 

Do I say this to my own self? How can I get near unto Va- 
runa ? Will he accept my offering without displeasure ? When 
shall I, with a quiet mind, see him propitiated ? 

I ask, O Varuna, wishing to know this my sin ; I go to ask 
the wise. The sages all tell me the same : " Varuna it is who is 
angry with thee." 

Was it for an old sin, O Varuna, that thou wishest to destroy 
thy friend, who always praises thee ? Tell me, thou unconquer- 
able Lord ! and I will quickly turn to thee with praise, freed 
from sin. 

Absolve us from the sins of our fathers, and from those which 
we committed with our own bodies. Release Vasish^Aa, O King, 
like a thief who has feasted on stolen cattle ; release him like a 
calf from the rope. 

It was not our own doing, O Varuna, it was a slip ; an intoxi- 
cating draught, passion, dice, thoughtlessness. The old is there to 
mislead the young ; even sleep is not free from mischief. 

Let me without sin give satisfaction to the angry god, like a 
slave to his bounteous lord. The lord god enlightened the fool- 
ish ; he, the wisest, leads his worshipper to wealth. 

lord Varuna, may this song go well to thy heart ! May we 
prosper in keeping and acquiring ! Protect us, O gods, always 
with your blessings. 

1 am not blind to the blemishes of this ancient 



FOURTH LECTURE. Ill 

prayer, but I am not blind to its beauty either, and I 
think you will admit that the discovery of even one 
such poem among the hymns of the Rig- Veda, and the 
certainty that such a poem was composed in India at 
least three thousand years ago, without any inspiration 
but that which all can find who seek for it if haply 
they may find it, is well worth the labor of a life. It 
shows that man was never forsaken of God, and that 
conviction is worth more to the student of history than 
all the dynasties of Babylon and Egypt, worth more 
than all lacustrine villages, worth more than the skulls 
and jaw-bones of Neanderthal or Abbeville. 

My next extract will be from the Zendavesta, the 
sacred book of the Zoroastrians, older in its language 
than the cuneiform inscriptions of Cyrus, Darius, 
Xerxes, and still believed in by a small remnant of the 
Persian race, now settled at Bombay, and known all 
over the world by the name of Parsis. 1 

I ask thee, tell me the truth, O Ahura I Who was from the 
beginning the father of the pure creatures ? Who has made a 
path for the sun and for the stars ? Who (but thou) makes the 
moon to increase and to decrease ? That, O Mazda, and other 
things, I wish to know. 

I ask thee, tell me the truth, O Ahura ! Who holds the earth 
and the clouds that they do not fall ? Who holds the sea and 
the trees ? Who has given swiftness to the wind and the clouds ? 
Who is the creator of the good spirit ? 

I ask thee, tell me the truth, O Ahura ! Who has made the 
kindly light and the darkness, who has made the kindly sleep 
and the awaking ? Who has made the mornings, the noons, 
and the nights ? Who has made him who ponders on the meas- 
ure of the laws ? 

"We cannot always be certain that we have found 
the right sense of the Zendavesta, for its language is 

1 Yasna, xliv. 3, ed. Brockhaus, p. 130; Spiegel, Yasna, p. 146; 
Haug, Essays, p. 150. 



112 THE SCIENCE OF RELIGION. 

full of difficulties ; yet so much is clear, that in the 
Bible of Zoroaster every man is called upon to take 
his part in the great battle between Good and Evil 
which is always going on, and. is assured that in the 
end good will prevail. 

What shall I quote from Buddha ? for there is so 
much in his sayings and his parables that it is indeed 
difficult to choose. In a collection of his sayings, 
written in Pali, — of which I have lately published a 
translation, 1 — we read : — 

1. All that we are is the result of what we have thought ; it is 
founded on our thoughts, it is made up of our thoughts. If a 
man speaks or acts with an evil thought, pain follows him as the 
wheel follows the foot of him who draws the cart. 

49. As the bee collects honey and departs without injuring 
the flower, so let the sage dwell on earth. 

62. " These sons belong to me, and this wealth belongs to 
me," with such thoughts a fool is tormented. He himself does 
not belong to himself; how much less sons and wealth ! 

121. Let no man think lightly of evil, saying in his heart, It 
will not come nigh unto me. Let no man think lightly of good, 
saying in his heart, It will not benefit me. Even by the falling 
of water-drops a water-pot is filled. 

173. He whose evil deeds are covered by good deeds, bright- 
ens up this world like the moon when she rises from behind the 
clouds. 

223. Let a man overcome anger by love, evil by good, the 
greedy by liberality, the liar by truth. 

264. Not by tonsure does an undisciplined man become a 
saint : can a man be a saint who is still held captive by desires 
and greediness ? 

394. What is the use of platted hair, O fool ! what of the 
raiment of goat-skins? Within thee there is ravening, but the 
outside thou makest clean. 

1 Buddhaghosha's Parables, translated from Burmese by Captain 
Rogers ; with an Introduction containing Buddha's " Dhammapada," 
or " Path of Virtue," translated from Pali by Max Miiller. London : 
Triibner & Co., 1870. 



FOURTH LECTURE. 113 

In no religion are we so constantly reminded of our 
own as in Buddhism, and yet in no religion has man 
been drawn away so far from the truth as in the re- 
ligion of Buddha. Buddhism and Christianity are 
indeed the two opposite poles with regard to the 
most essential points of religion ; Buddhism ignor- 
ing all feeling of dependence on a higher power, and 
therefore denying the very existence of a supreme 
Deity ; Christianity resting entirely on a belief in God 
as the Father, in the Son of Man as the Son of God, 
and making us all children of God by faith in his Son. 
Yet between the language of Buddha and his disciples 
and the language of Christ and his apostles there are 
strange coincidences. Even some of the Buddhist 
legends and parables sound as if taken from the New 
Testament, though we know that many of them ex- 
isted before the beginning of the Christian era. 

Thus, one day Ananda, the disciple of Buddha, 
after a long walk in the country, meets with Matangi, 
a woman of the low caste of the Kandalas, near a 
well, and asks her for some water. She tells him what 
she is, and that she must not come near him. But he 
replies, " My sister, I ask not for thy caste or thy fam- 
ily, I ask only for a draught of water." She after- 
wards becomes herself a disciple of Buddha. 1 

While in the New Testament we read, " If thy 
right eye offend thee, pluck it out and cast it from 
thee," we find among the Buddhists a parable of a 
young priest whose bright and lovely eyes proved too 
attractive to a lady whom he visits, and who thereupon 
plucks out his right eye and shows it to her that she 
may see how hideous it is. 2 

1 Burnouf, Introduction a VHistoire du Buddhisme, p. 205. 

2 See Katha-sarit-sagara, ed. Brockhaus, vi. 28, p. 14. 



114 THE SCIENCE OF RELIGION. 

According to Buddha, the motive of all our actions 
should be pity or love for our neighbor. 

And as in Buddhism, so even in the writings of 
Confucius we find again what we value most in our 
religion. I shall quote but one saying of the Chinese 



" What you do not like when done to yourself, do 
not do that to others." 

One passage only from the founder of the second 
religion in China, from Lao-tse (cap. 25) : — 

There is an Infinite Being, which existed before heaven and 
earth. 

How calm it is ! how free ! 

It lives alone, it changes not. 

It moves everywhere, but it never suffers. 

We may look on it as the Mother of the Universe. 

I, I know not its name. 

In order to give it a title, I call it Tao (the way). 

When I try to give it a name, I call it Great. 

After calling it Great, I call it Fugitive. 

After calling it Fugitive, I call it Distant. 

After calling it Distant, I say it comes back to me. 

Need I say that Greek and Roman writers are full 
of the most exalted sentiments on religion and mo- 
rality, in spite of their mythology and in spite of 
their idolatry ? When Plato says that man ought to 
strive after likeness with God, do you think that he 
thought of Jupiter, or Mars, or Mercury? When 
another poet exclaimed that the conscience is a god 
for all men, was he so very far from a knowledge of 
the true God ? 

I wish we could explore together in this spirit the 
ancient religions of mankind, for I feel convinced that 
the more we know of them the more we shall see that 

1 Dr. Legge's Life and Teachings of Confucius, p. 47. 



FOURTH LECTURE. 115 

there is not one which is entirely false ; nay, that in 
one sense every religion was a true religion, being the 
only religion which was possible at the time, which 
was compatible w T ith the language, the thoughts, and 
the sentiments of each generation, which was appro- 
priate to the age of the world. I know full well the 
objections that will be made to this. Was the worship 
of Moloch, it will be said, a true religion when they 
burnt their sons and their daughters in the fire to their 
gods ? Was the worship of Mylitta, or is the worship 
of Kali a true religion, when within the sanctuary of 
their temple they committed abominations that must 
be nameless ? Was the teaching of Buddha a true 
religion, w r hen men were asked to believe that the 
highest reward of virtue and meditation consisted in 
a complete annihilation of the soul ? Such arguments 
may tell in party warfare, though even there they have 
provoked fearful retaliation. Can that be a true religion, 
it has been answered, which consigned men of holy 
innocence to the flames, because they held that the 
Son was like unto the Father, but not the same as the 
Father, or because they would not worship the Virgin 
and the saints ? Can that be a true religion which 
screened the same nameless crimes behind the sacred 
walls of monasteries ? Can that be a true religion 
which taught the eternity of punishment without any 
hope of pardon or salvation for the sinner, however 
penitent ? People who judge of religions in that 
spirit will never understand their real purport, will 
never reach their sacred springs. These are the ex- 
crescences, the inevitable excrescences of religion. 
We might as well judge of the health of a people from 
its hospitals, or of its morality from its prisons. If we 
want to judge of a religion, we must try to study it 



116 THE SCIENCE OF RELIGION. 

as much as possible in the mind of its founder ; and 
when that is impossible, as it is but too often, we must 
try to find it in the lonely chamber and the sick-room, 
rather than in the colleges of augurs and the councils 
of priests. 

If we do this, and if we bear in mind that religion 
must accommodate itself to the intellectual capacities 
of those whom it is to influence, we shall be surprised 
to find so much of true religion where we only ex- 
pected degrading superstition or an absurd worship of 
idols. 

The intention of religion, wherever we meet it, is 
always holy. However imperfect, however childish a 
religion may be, it always places the human soul in 
the presence of God ; and however imperfect and 
however childish the conception of God may be, it 
always represents the highest ideal of perfection which 
the human soul, for the time being, can reach and 
grasp. Religion therefore places the human soul in the 
presence of its highest ideal, it lifts it above the level 
of ordinary goodness, and produces at least a yearn- 
ing after a higher and better life — a life in the light 
of God. The expression that is given to these early 
manifestations of religious sentiment is no doubt fre- 
quently childish : it may be irreverent or even repul- 
sive. But has not every father to learn the lesson of 
a charitable interpretation in watching the first stam- 
merings of religion in his children ? Why, then, should 
people find it so difficult to learn the same lesson in the 
ancient history of the world, and to judge in the same 
spirit the religious utterances of the childhood of the 
human race? Who does not recollect the startling 
and seemingly irreverent questionings of children 
about God, and who does not know how perfectly guilt- 



FOURTH LECTURE. 117 

less the child's mind is of real irreverence? Such 
outbursts of infantine religion hardly bear repeating. 
I shall only mention one instance. I well recollect the 
dismay which was created by a child exclaiming : u O! 
I wish there was at least one room in the house where 
I could play alone, and where God could not see me ! " 
People who heard it were shocked ; but to my mind, 
I confess, this childish exclamation sounded more 
wonderful than even the Psalm of David, " Whither 
shall I go from thy Spirit? or whither shall I flee 
from thy presence ? " 

It is the same with the childish language of ancient 
religion. We say calmly that God is omniscient and 
omnipresent. Hesiod speaks of the sun as the eye of 
Zeus that sees and perceives everything. Aratus 
wrote, " Full of Zeus are all the streets, all the mar- 
kets of men ; full of him is the sea and the harbors 
.... and we are also his offspring." 

A Vedic poet, though of more modern date than 
the one I quoted before, speaking of the same Varcma 
whom Vasish^a invoked, says : " The great lord of 
these worlds sees as if he were near. If a man thinks 
he is walking by stealth, the gods know it all. If a 
man stands or walks or rides, if he goes to lie down or 
to get up, what two people sitting together whisper, 
King Varuwa knows it, he is there as a third. This 
earth, too, belongs to Varuna, the king, and this wide 
sky with its ends far apart. The two seas (the sky 
and the ocean) are Varuwa's loins ; he is also con- 
tained in this small drop of water. He who should 
flee far beyond the sky, even he would not be rid of 
Varuwa, the king. His spies proceed from heaven to- 
wards this world ; with thousand eyes they overlook 
this earth. King Varuwa sees all this, what is be- 



118 THE SCIENCE OF RELIGION. 

tween heaven and earth, and what is beyond. He has 
counted the twinklings of our eyes. As a player 
throws down the dice, he settles all things." 1 

I do not deny that there is in this hymn much that 
is childish, that it contains expressions unworthy of the 
majesty of the Deity ; but if I look at the language and 
the thoughts of the people who composed these hymns 
more than three thousand years ago, I wonder rather 
at the happy and pure expression which they have 
given to these deep thoughts than at the occasional 
harshnesses which jar upon our ears. 

Ancient language is a difficult instrument to handle, 
particularly for religious purposes. It is impossible in 
human language to express abstract ideas except by 
metaphor, and it is not too much to say that the whole 
dictionary of ancient religion is made up of metaphors. 
With us these metaphors are all forgotten. We speak 
of spirit without thinking of breath, of heaven without 
thinking of the sky, of pardon without thinking of a 
release, of revelation without thinking of a veil. But 
in ancient language every one of these words, nay, 
every word that does not refer to sensuous objects, is 
still in a chrysalis stage : half material and half spirit- 
ual, and rising and falling in its character according 
to the varying capacities of speakers and hearers. 
Here is a constant source of misunderstandings, many 
of which have maintained their place in the religion 
and in the mythology of the ancient world. There 
are two distinct tendencies to be observed in the 
growth of ancient religion. There is, on the one side, 
the struggle of the mind against the material character 
of language, a constant attempt to strip words of their 
coarse covering, and fit them, by main force, for the 

1 Chips from a German Workshop, vol. i. p. 41 ; Atharva-veda, iv. 16. 



FOURTH LECTUBE. 119 

purposes of abstract thought. But there is, on the 
other side, a constant relapse from the spiritual into 
the material, and, strange to say, a predilection for the 
material sense instead of the spiritual. This action 
and reaction has been going on in the language of re- 
ligion from the earliest times, and it is at work even 
now. 

It seems at first a fatal element in religion that it 
cannot escape from this flux and reflux of human 
thought, which is repeated at least once in every gen- 
eration between father and son, between mother and 
daughter ; but if we watch it more closely we shall 
find, I think, that this flux and reflux constitutes the 
very life of religion. 

Place yourselves in the position of those who first 
are said to have worshipped the sky. We say that they 
worshipped the sky, or that the sky was their god ; 
and in one sense that is true, but in a sense very dif- 
ferent from that which is usually attached to such 
statements. If we use " god " in the sense which it 
has now, then to say that the sky was their god is to 
say what is simply impossible. We might as well say 
that with them Spirit meant nothing but air. Such a 
word as God, in our sense of the word — such a word 
even as deus and 0cos in Latin and Greek, or deva in 
Sanskrit, which could be used as a general predicate 
— did not and could not exist at that early time in the 
history of thought and speech. If we want to under- 
stand ancient religion, we must first try to understand 
ancient language. Let us remember, then, that the 
first materials of language supply expression for such 
impressions only as are received through the senses. 

If, therefore, there was a root meaning to burn, to 
be bright, to warm, such a root might supply a recog- 



120 THE SCIENCE OF RELIGION. 

nized name for the sun and for the sky. But let us 
now imagine, as well as we can, the process which 
went on in the human mind before the name of sky 
could be torn away from its material object and be 
used as the name of something totally different from 
the sky. There was in the heart of man, from the 
very first, a feeling of incompleteness, of weakness, of 
dependence, whatever we like to call it in our abstract 
lauguage. We can explain it as little as we can ex- 
plain why the new-born child feels the cravings of 
hunger and thirst. But it was so from the first, and 
is so even now. Man knows not whence he comes 
and whither he goes. He looks for a guide, for a 
friend ; he wearies for some one on whom he can rest ; 
he wants something like a father in heaven. In addi- 
tion to all the impressions which he received from the 
outer world, there was in the heart of man a stronger 
impulse from within — a sigh, a yearning, a call for 
something that should not come and go like every- 
thing else, that should be before, and after, and for- 
ever, that should hold and support everything, that 
should make man feel at home in this strange world. 
Before this vague yearning could assume any definite 
shape it wanted a name ; it could not be fully grasped 
or clearly conceived except by naming it. But where 
to look for a name ? No doubt the store-house of lan- 
guage was there, but from every name that was tried 
the mind of man shrank back because it did not fit, 
because it seemed to fetter rather than to wing the 
thought that fluttered within and called for light and 
freedom. But when at last a name or even many 
names were tried and chosen, let us see what took 
place, as far as the mind of man was concerned. A 
certain satisfaction, no doubt, was gained by having a 



FOURTH LECTURE. 121 

name or several names, however imperfect ; but these 
names, like all other names, were but signs — poor, 
imperfect signs ; they were predicates, and very partial 
predicates, of various small portions only of that vague 
and vast something which slumbered in the mind. 
When the name of the brilliant sky had been chosen, 
as it has been chosen at one time or other by nearly 
every nation upon earth, was sky the full expression of 
that within the mind which wanted expression ? Was 
the mind satisfied ? Had the sky been recognized as 
its god? Far from it. People knew perfectly well 
what they meant by the visible sky; the first man 
who, after looking everywhere for what he wanted, 
and who at last in sheer exhaustion grasped at the 
name of sky as better than nothing, knew but too well 
that his success was after all a miserable failure. The 
brilliant sky, was, no doubt, the most exalted ; it was 
the only unchanging and infinite being that had re- 
ceived a name, and that could lend its name to that 
as yet unborn idea of the Infinite which disquieted the 
human mind. But let us only see this clearly, that 
the man who chose that name did not mean, could not 
have meant that the visible sky was all he wanted, 
that the blue canopy above was his god. 

And now observe what happens when the name sky 
has thus been given and accepted. The seeking and 
finding of such a name, however imperfect, was the 
act of a manly mind, of a poet, of a prophet, of a 
patriarch, who could struggle, like another Jacob, with 
the idea of God that was within him, till he had found 
some name for it. But when that name had to be 
used with the young and the aged, with silly children 
and doting grandmothers, it was impossible to preserve 
it from being misunderstood. The first step downwards 



122 THE SCIENCE OF RELIGION. 

would be to look upon the sky as the abode of that 
being which was called by the same name ; the next 
step would be to forget altogether what was behind the 
name, and to implore the sky, the visible canopy over 
our heads, to send rain, to protect the fields, the cattle, 
and the corn, to give to man his daily bread. Nay, 
very soon those who warned the world that it was not 
the visible sky that was meant, but that what was 
meant Was something high above, deep below, far away 
from the blue firmament, would be looked upon either 
as dreamers whom no one could understand or as 
unbelievers who despised the sky, the great benefactor 
of the world. Lastly, many things that were true of 
the visible sky would be told of its divine namesake, 
and legends would spring up, destroying every trace 
of the deity that once was hidden beneath that ambig- 
uous name. 

I call this variety of acceptation, this misunder- 
standing, which is inevitable in ancient and also modern 
religion, the dialectic growth and decay, or, if you like, 
the dialectic life of religion, and we shall see again and 
again how important it is in enabling us to form a right 
estimate of religious language and thought. The 
dialectic shades. in the language of religion are almost 
infinite ; they explain the decay, but they also account 
for the life of religion. You may remember that Jacob 
Grimm, in one of his poetical moods, explained the 
origin of High and Low German, of Sanskrit and 
Prakrit, of Doric and Ionic, by looking upon the high 
dialects as originally the language of women and chil- 
dren. We can observe, I believe, the same parallel 
streams in the language of religion. There is a high 
and there is a low dialect ; there is a broad and there 
is a narrow dialect ; there are dialects for men and for 



FOURTH LECTURE. 123 

children, for clergy and laity, for the noisy streets and 
for the still and lonely chamber. And as the child on 
growing up to manhood has to unlearn the language 
of the nursery, its religion, too, has to be translated 
from a feminine into a more masculine dialect. This 
does not take place without a struggle, and it is this 
constantly recurring struggle, this inextinguishable 
desire to recover itself, which keeps religion from utter 
stagnation. From first to last religion is oscillating 
between these two opposite poles, and it is only if 
the attraction of one of the two poles becomes too 
strong, that the healthy movement ceases, and stagna- 
tion and decay set in. If religion cannot accommodate 
itself on the one side to the capacity of children, or if 
on the other side it fails to satisfy the requirements of 
men, it has lost its vitality, and it becomes either mere 
superstition or mere philosophy. 

If I have succeeded in expressing myself clearly, I 
think you will understand in what sense it may be 
said that there is truth in all religions, even in the low- 
est. The intention which led to the first utterance of 
a name like sky, used no longer in its material sense, 
but in a higher sense, was right. The spirit was will- 
ing, but language was weak. The mental process was 
not, as commonly supposed, an identification of the 
definite idea of deity with sky : such a process is hardly 
conceivable ; it was, on the contrary,* a first attempt 
at defining the indefinite impression of deity by a name 
that should approximately or metaphorically render at 
least one of its most prominent features. The first 
framer of that name of the deity, I repeat it again, 
could as little have thought of the material heaven as 
we do when we speak of the kingdom of heaven. 1 

1 Medhurst, Inquiry, p. 20. 



124 THE SCIENCE OF RELIGION. 

And now let us observe another feature of ancient 
religion that has often been so startling, but which, if 
we only remember what is the nature of ancient lan- 
guage, becomes likewise perfectly intelligible. It is 
well known that ancient languages are particularly 
rich in synonyms, or, to speak more correctly, that in 
them the same object is called by many names — is, 
in fact, polyonomous. While in modern languages 
most objects have one name only, we find in ancient 
Sanskrit, in ancient Greek. and Arabic, a large choice 
of words for the same object. This is perfectly nat- 
ural. Each name could express one side only of the 
object that had to be named, and, not satisfied with 
one partial name, the early framers of language pro- 
duced one name after the other, and after a time re- 
tained those which seemed most useful for special 
purposes. Thus, the sky might be called not only the 
brilliant, but the dark, the covering, the thundering, 
the rain-giving. This is the polyonomy of language, 
and it is what we are accustomed to call polytheism in 
religion. Aristotle said : " God, though He is one, 
has many names (is polyonomous) because He is 
called according to states into which He always enters 
anew." l The same mental yearning which found its 
first satisfaction in using the name of the brilliant sky 
as an indication of the Divine, would soon grasp at 
other names of the sky not expressive of brilliancy, 
and therefore more appropriate to a religious mood in 
which the Divine was conceived as dark, awful, all- 
powerful. Thus we find in Sanskrit, by the side of 
Dyaus, another name of the covering sky, Varuna, 
originally only another attempt at naming the Divine, 
but soon assuming a separate and independent exist- 
ence. 

1 Arist. De Mundo, cap. vii. init. 



FOURTH LECTURE. 125 

But this is not all. The very imperfection of every 
name that had been chosen, their very inadequacy to 
express the fullness and infinity of the Divine, would 
keep up the search for new names till at last every 
part of nature in which an approach to the Divine 
could be discovered was chosen as a name of the Om- 
nipresent. If the presence of the Divine was per- 
ceived in the strong wind, the strong wind became its 
name : if its presence was perceived in the earthquake 
and the fire, the earthquake and the fire became its 
names. Do you still wonder at polytheism or at 
mythology ? Why, they are inevitable. They are, 
if you like, a parler enfantin of religion. But the 
world had its childhood, and when it was a child it 
spoke as a child, it understood as a child, it thought 
as a child ; and, I say again, in that it spoke as a child 
its language was true, in that it believed as a child its 
religion was true. The fault rests with us, if we insist 
on taking the language of children for the language 
of men, if we attempt to translate literally ancient into 
modern language, oriental into occidental speech, po- 
etry into prose. 

It is perfectly true that at present few interpreters, 
if any, would take such expressions as the head, the 
face, the mouth, the lips, the breath of Jehovah in a 
literal sense. But what does it mean, then, if we hear 
one of our most honest and learned theologians declare 
that he can no longer read from the altar the words 
of the Bible, "God spake these words and said?" 
If we can make allowance for mouth and lips and 
breath, we can surely make the same allowance for 
words and their utterance. The language of antiquity 
is the language of childhood : aye, and we ourselves, 
when we try to reach the Infinite and the Divine by 



126 THE SCIENCE OF RELIGION. 

means of more abstract terms, are but like children 
trying to place a ladder against the sky. 

The parler enfantin in religion is not extinct ; it 
never will be. Not only have some of the ancient 
childish religions been kept alive, as, for instance, the 
religion of India, which is to my mind like a half-fos- 
silized megatherion walking about in the broad day- 
light of the nineteenth century ; but in our own relig- 
ion and in the language of the New Testament there 
are many things which disclose their true meaning to 
those only who know what language is made of, who 
have not only ears to hear but a heart to understand 
the real meaning of parables. 

What I maintain, then, is this, that as we put the 
most charitable interpretation on the utterances of 
children, we ought to put the same charitable inter- 
pretation on the apparent absurdities, the follies, the 
errors, nay, even the horrors of ancient religion. When 
we read of Belus, the supreme god of the Babylonians, 
cutting off his own head, that the blood flowing from 
it might be mixed with the dust out of which men 
were to be formed, this sounds horrible enough ; but 
depend upon it what was originally intended by this 
myth was no more than this, that there is in man an 
element of Divine life : that we are also his offspring. 
The same idea existed in the ancient religion of the 
Egyptians, for we read, in the 17th chapter of their 
" Ritual," that the Sun mutilated himself, and that 
from the stream of his blood he created all beings. 1 
And the author of Genesis, too, when he wishes to ex- 
press the same idea, can only use the same human and 
symbolical language ; he can only say that " God 

1 Vicomte de Eouge in Annates de Philosophie Ckretienne, Not. 1869, 
p. 332. 



FOURTH LECTURE. 127 

formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed 
into his nostrils the breath of life." 

If we have once learnt to be charitable in the inter- 
pretation of the language of other religions, we shall 
more easily learn to be charitable in the interpretation 
of the language of our own ; we shall no longer try to 
force a literal interpretation on words and sentences 
in our sacred books, which, if interpreted literally must 
lose their original purport and their spiritual truth. 
In this way, I believe that a comparative study of the 
religions of the world will teach us many a useful 
lesson in the study of our own : that it will teach us, 
at all events, to be charitable both abroad and at home. 



LECTUEE 

ON 

BUDDHIST NIHILISM. 

BY F. MAX. MULLEE, M. A. 

PROFESSOR OF COMPARATIVE PHILOLOGY IN THE UNIVERSITY 
OF OXFORD J MEMBER OF THE FRENCH INSTITUTE, ETC. 

DELIVERED BEFORE THE GENERAL MEETING OF THE AS- 
SOCIATION OF GERMAN PHILOLOGISTS, AT KIEL, 
28th SEPTEMBER, 1869. 

{Translated from the German.) 
9 



BUDDHIST NIHILISM. 



MAY be mistaken, but my belief is that the sub- 
-*- ject which I have chosen for my discourse cannot 
be regarded as alien to the general interests of this as- 
sembly. 

Buddhism in its numerous varieties continues still 
the religion of the majority of mankind, and will there- 
fore always occupy a very prominent place in a com- 
parative study of the religions of the world. But the 
science of comparative theology, although the young- 
est branch on the tree of human knowledge, will, for 
an accurate and fruitful study of antiquity, soon be- 
come as indispensable as comparative philology. For 
how can we truly understand and properly appreciate 
a people, its literature, art, politics, morals, and philoso- 
phy, its entire conception of life, without having com- 
prehended its religion, not only in its outer aspect, but 
in its innermost being, in its deepest far-reaching 
roots ? 

What our great poet once said almost prophetically 
of languages, may also be said of religions, — " He 
who knows only one knows none" As the true knowl- 
edge of a language requires a knowledge of languages, 
thus a true knowledge of religion requires a knowledge 
of religions. And however bold the assertion may 
sound, that all the languages of mankind have an Ori- 



132 BUDDHIST NIHILISM. 

ental origin, true it is that all religions, like the suns, 
have risen from the East. 

Here, therefore, in treating religions scientifically 
(those of the Aryan as well as those of the Semitic 
races) the Oriental scholar lawfully enters into the 
" plenum " of philology, if philology still is, as our 
President told us yesterday, what it once intended and 
wished to be, namely, the true Humanitas, which, like 
an emperor of yore, could say of itself, " humani nihil 
a me alienum puto." 

Now it has been the peculiar fate of the religion of 
Buddha, that among all the so-called false or heathen- 
ish religions, it almost alone has been praised by all 
and everybody for its elevated, pure, and humanizing 
character. One hardly trusts one's eyes on seeing 
Catholic and Protestant missionaries vie with each 
other in their praises of the Buddha ; and even the 
attention of those who are indifferent to all that con- 
cerns religion must be arrested for a moment, when 
they learn from statistical accounts that no religion, not 
even the Christian, has exercised so powerful an influ- 
ence on the diminution of crime as the old simple 
doctrine of the Ascetic of Kapilavastu. Indeed no 
better authority can be brought forward in this respect 
than that of a still living Bishop of the Roman Cath- 
olic Church. In his interesting work on the life of 
Buddha, the author, the Bishop of Ramatha, the Apos- 
tolic Vicar of Ava and Pegu, speaks with so much can- 
dor of the merits of the Buddhist religion, that we are 
often at a loss which most to admire, his courage or his 
learning. Thus he says in one place : 1 " There are 
many moral precepts equally commanded and enforced 
in common by both creeds. It will not be deemed rash 

1 Page 494. 



BUDDHIST NIHILISM. 133 

to assert that most of the moral truths, prescribed by 
the gospel, are to be met with in the Buddhistic scrip- 
tures." In another place Bishop Bigandet says : l 
" In reading the particulars of the life of the last 
Buddha Gaudama, it is impossible not to feel reminded 
of many circumstances relating to our Saviour's life, 
such as it has been sketched out by the Evangelists." 

I might produce many even stronger testimonies in 
honor of Buddha and Buddhism, but the above suffice 
for my purpose. 

But then, on the other hand, it appears as if people 
had only permitted themselves to be so liberal in their 
praise of Buddha and Buddhism, because they could, 
in the end, condemn a religion which, in spite of all its 
merits, culminated in Atheism and Nihilism. Thus we 
are told by Bishop Bigandet : 2 "It may be said in fa- 
vor of Buddhism, that no philosophico-religious system 
has ever upheld, to an equal degree, the notions of a 
savior and deliverer, and the necessity of his mission, 
for procuring the salvation of man, in a Buddhist sense. 
The role of Buddha, from beginning to end, is that of 
a deliverer, who preaches a law designed to secure to 
man the deliverance from all the miseries he is laboring 
under. But by an inexplicable and deplorable eccen- 
tricity, the pretended savior, after having taught man 
the way to deliver himself from the tyranny of his pas- 
sions, leads him, after all, into the bottomless gulf of a 
total annihilation." 

This language may have a slightly episcopal tinge, 
yet we find the same judgment, in almost identical 
words, pronounced by the most eminent scholars who 
have written on Buddhism. The warm discussions on 
this subject, which have recently taken place at the 
1 Page 495. 2 Page viii. 



134 BUDDHIST NIHILISM. 

Acade*mie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres of Paris, 
are probably known to many of those who are here 
present ; but better still, the work of the man whose 
place has not yet been filled, either in the French 
Academy, or on the Council Board of German Science 
— the work of Eugcme Burnouf, the true founder of 
a scientific study of Buddhism. Burnouf, too, in his 
researches arrives at the same result, namely, that 
Buddhism, as known to us from its canonical books, in 
spite of its great qualities, ends in Atheism and Nihil- 
ism. 

Now, as to Atheism, it cannot be denied that, if we 
call the old gods of the Veda — Indra, and Agni, and 
Yama — gods, Buddha was an Atheist. He does not 
believe in the divinity of these deities. What is note- 
worthy is that he does not by any means deny their 
bare existence, just as little as St. Augustine and other 
Fathers of the Church endeavored to sublimize, or en- 
tirely explain away the existence of the Olympian de- 
ities. The founder of Buddhism treats the old gods as 
superhuman beings, and promises the believers that 
they shall after death be reborn into the world of the 
gods, and shall enjoy divine bliss with the gods. Simi- 
larly he threatens the wicked that after death they 
shall meet with their punishment in the subterranean 
abodes and hells, where the Asuras, Sarpas, Nagas, and 
other evil spirits dwell, beings whose existence was 
more firmly rooted in the popular belief and language, 
than that even the founder of a new religion could 
have dared to reason them away. But, although 
Buddha assigned to these mediatized gods and devils, 
palaces, gardens, and a court, — not second to their 
former ones, — he yet deprived them of all their sov- 
ereign rights. Although, according to Buddha, the 



BUDDHIST NIHILISM. 135 

worlds of the gods last for millions of years, they must 
perish, at the end of every Kalpa, with the gods and 
with the spirits who in the circle of births have raised 
themselves to the world of the gods. Indeed, the re- 
organization of the spirit-world goes further still. Al- 
ready, before Buddha, the Brahmans had surmounted 
the low stand-point of mythological polytheism, and 
supplanting it by the idea of the Brahman, as the ab- 
solute divine or super-divine power. What, then, does 
Buddha decree ? To this Brahman also he assigns a 
place in his universe. Over and above the world of 
the gods with its six paradises, he heaps up sixteen 
Brahma-worlds, not to be attained through virtue and 
piety only, but through inner contemplation, through 
knowledge and enlightenment. The dwellers in these 
worlds are already purely spiritualized beings, without 
body, without weight, without desire, far above men 
and gods. Indeed, the Buddhist architect rises to a 
still more towering height, heaping upon the Brahma- 
world four still higher worlds, which he calls the world 
of the formless. All these worlds are open to man, 
and the beings ascend and descend in the circle of 
time, according to the works they have performed, ac- 
cording to the truths they have recognized. But in all 
these worlds the law of change obtains ; in none is 
there exemption from birth, age, and death. The 
world of the gods will perish like that of men, even 
the world of the formless will not last forever ; but 
the Buddha, the Enlightened and truly Free, stands 
higher, and will not be affected or disturbed by the 
collapse of the Universe : " Si fractus illabatur orbis, 
impavidum ferient ruinae." 

Now, however, we meet with a vein of irony, which 
one would hardly have expected in Buddha. Gods and 



136 BUDDHIST NIHILISM. 

devils he had located ; to all mythological and philo- 
sophical acquisitions of the past he had done justice as 
far as possible. Even fabulous beings, such as Nagas, 
Gandharvas, and Garuc?as, had escaped the process of 
dissolution, which was to reach them later only at the 
hands of comparative mythology. There is only one 
idea, the idea of a personal creator, in regard to which 
Buddha is relentless. 

It is not only denied, but even its origin, like that of 
an ancient myth, is carefully explained by him in its 
minutest details. This is done in the Brahma^&la- 
sutra. Let us bear in mind that a destruction of the 
worlds occurs at the end of every kalpa, a destruction 
which not only annihilates earth and hell, but also all 
the worlds of the gods, and even the three lowest of 
the Brahma- worlds. A description of the duration of 
a kalpa can only be given in the language of Bud- 
dhism. Take a rock forming a cube of about fourteen 
miles, touch it once in a hundred years with a piece of 
fine cloth, and the rock will sooner be reduced to dust 
than a kalpa will have attained its end. It is said that 
at the end of the kalpa, after all the lower stories of 
the universe had been destroyed and a new world had 
again been slowly formed, the spirits dwelling in the 
higher Brahma-worlds had remained inviolate. Then 
one of these Spirits, a being without body, without 
weight, omnipresent and blessed within himself, de- 
scended, when his time had arrived, from the higher 
Brahma-world to the new-formed nether Brahma- world. 
There he first dwelt alone ; but, by and by, the desire 
arose in him not to remain alone any longer. At the 
moment of the awakening of this desire within him, a 
second being accidentally descended from the higher 
into the lower Brahma-world. Then and there the 



BUDDHIST NIHILISM. 137 

thought originated in the first being, " I am the Brah- 
ma, the great Brahma, the Highest, the Unconquer- 
able, the Omniscient, the Lord and King of All. I am 
the Creator of all things, the Father of All. This 
being has also been created by me ; for as soon as I de- 
sired not to remain alone, my desire brought forth this 
second being." The other beings as they gradually 
descended from the higher worlds likewise believed 
that the first comer had been their Creator, for was he 
not older and mightier and handsomer than they ? 

But this is not all ; for although it would explain 
how one spirit could consider himself the creator of 
other spirits, it would leave unexplained the circum- 
stances of men on earth believing in such a creator. 
This is explained in the following manner : "In the 
course of time one of these higher beings sank lower 
and lower, and was finally born as a man on earth. 
There, by penances and deep meditation, he attained a 
state of inner enlightenment, which gives to man the 
faculty of remembering his former existences. He re- 
membered the above narrated occurrences in the new- 
ly originated Brahma-world, and announced to man- 
kind that there was a Creator, a Brahman, who had 
been prior to all other beings ; that this Creator was 
eternal and immutable, while all beings created by 
him were mutable and mortal. 

There is in this explanation, I believe, an unmistak- 
able note of animosity, otherwise so alien to the char- 
acter of Buddha, and the question naturally arises 
whether this can have been the doctrine of the founder 
of Buddhism himself. And herewith we at once ap- 
proach our principal problem : " Is it possible to distin- 
guish between Buddhism and the personal teaching of 
Buddha ? " We possess the Buddhist canon and have 



138 BUDDHIST NIHILISM. 

a right to consider all that we find in this canon as or- 
thodox Buddhist doctrine. But as there has been no 
lack of efforts in Christian theology to distinguish be- 
tween the doctrine of the founder of our religion and 
that of the writers of the Gospels, to go beyond the 
canon of the New Testament, and to make the Aoyta of 
the Master the only valid rule of our faith, so the same 
want was already felt at a very early period, among 
the followers of Buddha. King Asoka, the Indian Con- 
stantine, had to remind the assembled priests at the 
great council which had to settle the Buddhist canon, 
that what had been said by Buddha that alone was well 
said. 1 Works attributed to Buddha, but declared as 
apocryphal, or even as heterodox, already existed at 
that time. 

Thus we are not by any means without an authority 
for distinguishing between Buddhism and the teach- 
ing of Buddha ; the question is only whether such a 
separation is still practicable for us ? 

My belief is that all honest inquirers must oppose 
a No to this question. Burnouf never ventured to 
cast a glance beyond the boundaries of the Buddhist 
canon. What he finds in the canonical books, in the 
so-called " Three Baskets," is to him the doctrine of 
Buddha, similarly as we must accept, as the doctrine 
of Christ, what is contained in the four Gospels. 

Still the question ought to be asked again, and again, 
whether, at least with regard to certain doctrines or 
facts, it may not be possible to make a step further in 
advance, even with the conviction that it cannot lead 
us to results of apodictic certainty. For if, as happens 
frequently, we find in the different parts of the canon, 

1 See Max Miiller's Chips from a German Workshop, second edition, 
vol. i. p. xxiv. 



BUDDHIST NIHILISM. 139 

views, not only differing from, but even contradictory 
to each other, it follows, I think, that one only of them 
can belong to Buddha personally, and I believe that 
in such a case we have the right to choose, and the 
liberty to accept that view as the original one, the one 
peculiar to Buddha, which least harmonizes with the 
later system of orthodox Buddhism. 

As regards the denial of a Creator, or Atheism in 
the ordinary acceptation of the term, I do not think 
that any one passage from the books of the canon 
known to us, can be quoted which contradicts it, or 
which in any way presupposes the belief in a personal 
God or a Creator. All that may be urged are the 
words said to have been spoken by Buddha at the 
moment when he became the Enlightened, the Bud- 
dha. They are as follows : " Without ceasing shall 
I run through a course of many births, looking for the 
maker of this tabernacle, — and painful is birth again 
and again. But now, maker of the tabernacle, thou 
hast been seen ; thou shalt not make up this tabernacle 
again. All thy rafters are broken, thy ridge-pole is 
sundered ; the mind, being sundered, has attained to 
the extinction of all desires." 

Here in the maker of the tabernacle, i. e. the body, 
one might be tempted to see a creator. But he who 
is acquainted with the general run of thought in Bud- 
dhism, soon finds that this architect of the house is only 
a poetical expression, and that whatever meaning may 
underlie it, it evidently signifies a force subordinated 
to the Buddha, the Enlightened. 

But whilst we have no ground for exonerating the 
Buddha personally from the accusation of Atheism, the 
matter stands very differently as regards the charge of 
Nihilism. Buddhist Nihilism has always been much 



140 BUDDHIST NIHILISM. 

more incomprehensible than mere Atheism. A kind 
of religion is still conceivable, when there is something 
firm somewhere, when a something, eternal and self- 
dependent, is recognized, if not without and above man, 
at least within him. But if, as Buddhism teaches, the 
soul, after having passed through all the phases of ex- 
istence, all the worlds of the gpds and of the higher 
spirits, attains finally Nirvana as its highest aim and 
last reward, i. e. becomes quite extinct, then religion 
is not any more what it ought to be — a bridge from 
the finite to the infinite, but a trap-bridge hurling man 
into the abyss, at the very moment when he thought 
he had arrived at the stronghold of the Eternal. 
According to the metaphysical doctrine of Buddhism, 
the soul cannot dissolve itself in a higher being, or be 
absorbed in the absolute substance, as was taught by 
the Brahmans and other mystics of ancient and modern 
times. For Buddhism knew not the Divine, the 
Eternal, the Absolute, and the soul, even as the I, or 
as the mere Self, the Atman, as called by the Brah- 
mans, was represented in the orthodox Metaphysics of 
Buddhism as transient, as futile, as a mere phantom. 

No person who reads with attention the metaphysical 
speculations on the Nirvana contained in the Buddhist 
Canon, can arrive at anv other conviction than that 
expressed by Burnouf, namely, that Nirvana, the 
highest aim, the summum bonum of Buddhism, is the 
absolute nothing. 

Burnouf adds, however, that this doctrine, in its 
crude form, appears only in the third part of the 
canon, the so-called Abhidharma, but not in the first 
and second parts, in the Sutras, the sermons, and the 
Vinaya, the ethics, which together bear the name of 
Dharma or Law. He next points out that, according 



BUDDHIST NIHILISM. 141 

to some ancient authorities, this entire part of the 
canon was. designated as "not pronounced by Bud- 
dha." l These are, at once, two important limitations. 
I add a third, and maintain that sayings of the Bud- 
dha occur in the first and second parts of the canon, 
which are in open contradiction to this metaphysical 
Nihilism. 

Now as regards the soul, or the self, the existence of 
which, according to the orthodox metaphysics, is purely 
phenomenal, a sentence attributed to the Buddha says, 
" Self is the Lord of Self, who else could be the Lord ? " 
And again, " A man who controls himself enters the 
untrodden land through his own self-controlled self." 
And this untrodden land is the Nirvana. 

Nirvana certainly means extinction, whatever its 
later arbitrary interpretations may have been, and 
seems therefore to imply, even etymologically, a real 
blowing out or passing away. But Nirvana occurs also 
in the Brahmanic writings, as synonymous with Mok- 
sha, Nirvritti, and other words, all designating the 
highest stage of spiritual liberty and bliss, but not an- 
nihilation. Nirvana may mean the extinction of many 
things — of selfishness, desire, and sin, without going 
so far as the extinction of subjective consciousness. 
Further, if we consider that Buddha himself, after he 
had already seen Nirvana, still remains on earth until 
his body falls a prey to death ; that Buddha appears, 
in the legends, to his disciples even after his death, it 
seems to me that all these circumstances are hardly re- 
concilable with the orthodox metaphysical doctrine of 
Nirvana. 

What does it mean when Buddha calls reflection the 
path of immortalit} r , and thoughtlessness the path of 
1 Max Miiller's Chips, second edition, vol. i. p. 285, note. 



142 BUDDHIST NIHILISM. 

death ? Buddhaghosha, a learned man of the fifth 
century, here explains immortality by Nirv&wa, and 
that this was also Buddha's thought is clearly estab- 
lished by a passage following immediately after : 
" These wise people, meditative, steady, always pos- 
sessed of strong powers, attain to Nirvana, the highest 
happiness." Can this be annihilation ? and would such 
expressions have been used by the founder of this new 
religion, if what he called immortality had, in his own 
idea, been annihilation ? 

I could quote many more such passages did I not 
fear to tire you. Nirv&na occurs even in the purely 
moral sense of quietness and absence of passion. 
" When a man can bear everything without uttering 
a sound," says Buddha, " he has attained Nirvana." 
Quiet long-suffering he calls the highest Nirvana ; he 
who has conquered passion and hatred is said to enter 
into Nirvana. 

In other passages, Nirvana is described as the result 
of just knowledge. There we read : " Hunger or 
desire is the worst ailment, the body the greatest of 
all evils ; where this is properly known, there is Nir- 
vana, the greatest happiness." 

When it is said in one passage that Rest ($anti) is 
the highest bliss, it is said in another that Nirvana is 
the highest bliss. 

Buddha says : " The sages who injure nobody, and 
who always control their body, they will go to the un- 
changeable place (Nirvana), where, if they have gone, 
they will suffer no more." 

Nirvana is called the quiet place, the immortal place, 
even simply that which is immortal ; and the expres- 
sion occurs, that the wise dived into this immortal. 
As, according to Buddha, everything that was made, 



BUDDHIST NIHILISM. 143 

everything that was put together, passes away again, 
and resolves itself into its component parts, he calls in 
contradistinction, that which is not made, i. e., the 
uncreated and eternal, Nirvana. He says : " When 
you have understood the destruction of all that was 
made, you will understand that which was not made." 
Whence it appears that even for him a certain some- 
thing exists, which is not made, which is eternal and 
imperishable. 

On considering such sayings, to which many more 
might be added, one recognizes in them a conception 
of Nirvana, altogether irreconcilable with the Nihilism 
of the third part of the Buddhist Canon. The ques- 
tion in such matters is not a more or less, but an aut- 
aut. If these sayings have maintained themselves, 
in spite of their contradiction to orthodox metaphysics, 
the only explanation, in my opinion, is, that they were 
too firmly fixed in the tradition which went back to 
Buddha and his disciples. What Bishop Bigandet and 
others represent as the popular view of the Nirv&na, 
in contradistinction to that of the Buddhist divines, 
was, if I am not mistaken, the conception of Buddha 
and his disciples. It represented the entrance of the 
soul into rest, a subduing of all wishes and desires, 
indifference to joy and pain, to good and evil, an ab- 
sorption of the soul in itself, and a freedom from the 
circle of existences from birth to death, and from death 
to a new birth. This is still the meaning which edu- 
cated people attach to it, whilst, to the minds of the 
larger masses, 1 Nirv&na suggests rather the idea of a 
Mohammedan paradise or of blissful Elysian fields. 

1 Bigandet, The Life or Legend of Gaudama, the Buddha of the Bur- 
mese, with Annotations. The ways to Neibban, and notice on the 
Phongyies, or Burmese Monks. 8vo, sewed, pp. xi., 538, and v. Lon- 
don, Triibner & Co. 



144 BUDDHIST NIHILISM. 

Only in the hands of the philosophers, to whom 
Buddhism owes its metaphysics, the Nirvana, through 
constant negations, carried to an indefinite degree, 
through the excluding and abstracting of all that is not 
Nirvana, at last became an empty Nothing, a philo- 
sophical myth. There is no lack of such philosophical 
myths either in the East or in the West. What has 
been fabled by philosophers of a Nothing, and of the 
terrors of a Nothing, is as much a myth as the myth 
of Eos and Tithonus. There is no more a Nothing 
than there is an Eos or a Chaos. All these are sickly, 
dying, or dead words, which, like shadows and ghosts, 
continue to haunt language, and succeed in deceiving 
for a while even the healthiest understanding. 

Even modern philosophy is not afraid to say that 
there is a Nothing. We find passages in the German 
mystics, such as Eckhart and Tauler, where the abyss 
of the Nothing is spoken of quite in a Buddhist style. 
If Buddha had said, like St. Paul, " that what no eye 
hath seen, nor ear heard, neither has it entered into 
the heart of man," was prepared in the Nirvana for 
those who had advanced to the highest degree of spir- 
itual perfection, such expressions would have been 
quite sufficient to serve as a proof to the philosophers 
by profession that this Nirv&na, which could not be- 
come an object of perception by the senses, nor of con- 
ception by the categories of the understanding, could 
be nothing more nor less than the Nothing. Could 
we dare with Hegel to distinguish between a Nothing 
(Nichts) and a Not (Nicht), we might say that the 
Nirvana had through a false dialectical process become 
from a relative Nothing an absolute Not. This was 
the work of the theologians and of the orthodox phi- 
losophers. But a religion has never been founded by 



BUDDHIST NIHILISM. 145 

such teaching, and a man like Buddha, who knew 
mankind, must have known that he could not with 
such weapons overturn the tyranny of the Brahmans. 
Either we must bring ourselves to believe that Buddha 
taught his disciples two diametrically opposed doctrines 
on Nirvana, say an exoteric and esoteric one, or we 
must allow that view of Nirvana to have been the 
original view of the founder of this marvelous religion, 
which corresponds best with the simple, clear, and 
practical character of Buddha. 

I have now said all that can be said in vindication 
of Buddha within the brief time allowed to these dis- 
courses. But I should be sorry if you carried away 
the impression that Buddhism contained nothing but 
empty, useless speculations ; permit me, therefore, to 
read to you, in conclusion, a short Buddhist parable, 
which will show you Buddhism in a more human form. 
It is borrowed from a work which will soon appear, 
and which contains the translation of the parables 
used by the Buddhists to obtain acceptance for their 
doctrines amongst the people. I shall only omit some 
technical expressions and minor details which are of 
no importance : x — 

" Some time after this, Kisagotami gave birth to a son. When 
the boy was able to walk by himself, he died. The young girl, 
in her love for it, carried the dead child clasped to her bosom, 
and went about from house to house, asking if any one would 
give her some medicine for it. When the neighbors saw this, 
they said, ' Is the young girl mad that she carries about on her 
breast the dead body of her son ! ' But a wise man thinking to 
himself, ' Alas ! this Kisagotami does not understand the law of 

1 Buddhaghosha's Parables. Translated from the Burmese by Cap- 
tain H. T. Rogers, R. E. With an Introduction containing " Bud- 
dha's Dhammapada, or the Path of Virtue." Translated from Pali by 
Professor F. Max Mtiller. London, Triibner & Co. 



146 BUDDHIST NIHILISM. 

death, I must comfort her/ said to her, l My good girl, I cannot 
myself give medicine for it, but I„know of a doctor who can 
attend to it.' The young girl said, 'If so, tell me who it is.' 
The wise man continued, * Buddha can give medicine, you must 
go to him.' 

" Kisagotami went to Buddha, and doing homage to him, said, 
' Lord and master, do you know any medicine that will be good 
for my boy ? ' Buddha replied, ' I know of some.' She asked, 
' What medicine do you require ? ' He said, ' I want a handful 
of mustard seed.' The girl promised to procure it for him, but 
Buddha continued, l I require some mustard seed taken from a 
house where no son, husband, parent, or slave has died.' The 
girl said, ' Yery good,' and went to ask for some at the different 
houses, carrying the dead body of her son astride on her hip. 
The people said, ' Here is some mustard seed, take it.' Then 
she asked, ' In my friend's house has there died a son, a hus- 
band, a parent, or a slave ? ' They replied, ' Lady, what is this 
that you say ! The living are few, but the dead are many.' Then 
she went to other houses, but one said, ' I have lost a son ; ' 
another, ' I have lost my parents ; ' another, ' I have lost my 
slave.' At last, not being able to find a single house where no 
one had died, from which to procure the mustard seed, she be- 
gan to think, ' This is a heavy task that I am engaged in. I am 
not the only one whose son is dead. In the whole of the Savat- 
thi country, everywhere children are dying, parents are dying.' 
Thinking thus, she was seized by fear, and putting away her 
affection for her child, she summoned up resolution, and left the 
dead body in a forest ; then she went to Buddha and paid him 
homage. He said to her, ' Have you procured the ' handful of 
mustard seed ? ' 'I have not,' she replied ; ' the people of the 
village told me, " The living are few, but the dead are many." ' 
Buddha said to her, ' You thought that you alone had lost a 
son ; the law of death is that among all living creatures there 
is no permanence.' When Buddha had finished preaching the 
law, Kisagotami was established in the reward of the noviciate ; 
and all the assembly who heard the law were established in the 
same reward. 

" Some time afterwards, when Kisagotami was one day en- 
gaged in the performance of her religious duties, she observed 
the lights (in the- houses) now shining, now extinguished, and 
began to reflect, 'My state is like these lamps.' Buddha, who 



BUDDHIST NIHILISM. 147 

•was then in the Gandhakud building, sent his sacred appearance 
to her, which said to her, just as if he himself was preaching, 
1 All living beings resemble the flame of these lamps, one mo- 
ment lighted, the next extinguished ; those only who have ar- 
rived at Nirvana are at rest.' Kisagotami, on hearing this, 
reached the stage of a saint possessed of intuitive knowledge." 

Gentlemen, this is a specimen of the true Buddhism ; 
this is the language, intelligible to the poor and the 
suffering, which has endeared Buddhism to the hearts 
of millions, — not the silly, metaphysical phantasma- 
gorias of worlds of gods and worlds of Brahma, or final 
dissolution of the soul in Nirvana, — no, the beautiful, 
the tender, the humanly true, which, like pure gold, 
lies buried in all religions, even in the sand of the 
Buddhist Canon. 



BUDDHA'S DHAMMAPADA, 

OR 

"PATH OP VIRTUE." 

Translated from Pali 
By F. MAX MULLER, M. A., 

PROFESSOR OF COMPARATIVE PHILOLOGY AT OXFORD, FOREIGN 
MEMBER OF THE FRENCH INSTITUTE, ETC. 



BUDDHA'S DHAMMAPADA, 

OR 

"PATH OF VIRTUE." 



[The accompanying essay upon the age of Buddhaghosha's Parables 
and of the Dhammapada by Prof. Max Miiller originally appeared as 
a preface to a translation from the Parables themselves by Capt. T. 
Rogers, R. E. A few introductory paragraphs relating particularly to 
Capt. Rogers and his share of the volume are omitted from this pref- 
atory essay. — The Publishers.] 

THE Dhammapada forms part of the Buddhistic 
Canon, and consists of four hundred and twenty- 
four verses, 1 which are believed to contain the utter- 

1 That there should be some differences in the exact number of 
these gathAs, or verses, is but natural. In a short index at the end of 
the work, the number of chapters is given as twenty-six. This agrees 
with our text. The sum total, too, of the verses as there given, namely 
423, agrees with the number of verses which Buddhaghosha had be- 
fore him, when writing his commentary, at the beginning of the fifth 
century of our era. It is only when the number of verses in each 
chapter is given that some slight differences occur. Cap. v. is said to 
contain 17 instead of 16 verses; cap. xii. 12 instead of 10; cap xiv. 
16 instead of 18 ; cap. xx. 16 instead of 17 ; cap. xxiv. 22 instead of 
26 ; cap. xxvi. 40 instead of 41, which would give altogether five 
verses less than we actually possess. The cause of this difference may 
be either in the wording of the index itself fand we actually find it in 
a various reading, malavagge Jca, visati, instead of malavagg' ekavisati, 
see Fausboll, p. 435) ; or in the occasional counting of two verses as 
one, or of one as two. Thus in cap. v. we get 16 instead of 17 verses, 
if we take each verse to consist of two lines only, and not, as in vv. 
74 and 75, of three. Under all circumstances the difference is trifling, 
and we may be satisfied that we possess in our MSS. the same text 
which Buddhaghosha knew in the fifth century of our era. 



152 BUDDHA'S DHAMMAPADA, 

ances of Buddha himself. It is in explaining these 
verses that Buddhaghosha gives for each verse a para- 
ble, which is to illustrate the meaning of the verse, and 
is believed to have been uttered by Buddha, in his in- 
tercourse with his disciples, or in preaching to the 
multitudes that came to hear him. In translating 
these verses, I have followed the edition of the Pali 
text, published in 1855 by Dr. Fausboll, and I have 
derived great advantage from his Latin translation, his 
notes, and his copious extracts from Buddhaghosha's 
commentary. I have also consulted translations, 
either of the whole of the Dhammapada, or of por- 
tions of it, by Weber, Gogerly, 1 Upham, Burnouf, 
and others. Though it will be seen that in many 
places my translation differs from those of my prede- 
cessors, I can only claim for myself the name of a 
very humble gleaner in the field of Pali literature. 
The greatest credit is due to Dr. Fausboll, whose 
editio princeps of the Dhammapada will mark forever 
an important epoch in the history of Pali scholarship ; 
and though later critics have been able to point out 
some mistakes, both in his text and in his translation, 
the value of their labors is not to be compared with 
that of the work accomplished single-handed by that 
eminent Danish scholar. 

ON THE AGE OF THE PARABLES AND OF THE DHAM- 
MAPADA. 

The age of Buddhaghosha can be fixed with greater 
accuracy than most dates in the literary history of 
India, for not only his name, but the circumstances 
of his life and his literary activity are described in the 

1 " Several of the chapters have been translated by Mr. Gogerly, 
and have appeared in The Friend, vol. iv. 1840." Spence Hardy, 
Eastern Monarhism, p. 169. 



OR "PATH OF VIRTUE." 153 

Mahavawsa, the history of Ceylon, by what may be 
called almost a contemporary witness. The Maha- 
vawsa, lit. the genealogy of the great, 1 or the great 
genealogy, is up to the reign of Dhatusena, the work 
of Mahanama. It was founded on the Dipavansa, 
also called Mah&vawsa, a more ancient history of the 
island of Ceylon, which ended with the reign of Ma- 
hasena, who died 302 a. p. MSS. of the Dipavawsa 
are said to exist, and there is a hope of its being pub- 
lished. Mahanama, who lived during the reign of 

' OCT, 

King Dhatusena, 459-477, wrote the whole history of 
the island over again, and carried it on to his own 
time. He also wrote a commentary on this work, but 
that commentary extends only as far as the forty- 
eighth verse of the thirty-seventh chapter, i. e., as far 
as the reign of Mahasena, who died in 502 a. d. 2 As 
it breaks off exactly where the older history, the Dipa- 
vansa, is said to have ended, it seems most likely that 
Mahanama embodied in it the results of his own re- 
searches into the ancient history of Ceylon, while for 
his continuation of the work, from the death of Ma- 
hasena to his own time, no such commentary was 
wanted. It is difficult to determine whether the 
thirty-eighth as well as the thirty-seventh chapter 
came from the pen of Mahanama, for the Mahavansa 
was afterwards continued by different writers to the 
middle of the last century ; but, taking into account 
all the circumstances of the case, it is most probable 

1 See MaMnSma's own explanations given in the Tika; Maha- 
vansa, Introduction, p. xxxi. 

2 After the forty-eighth verse, the text, as published by Tumour, 
puts "Mahavanso nittAito,"the Mahavansa is finished; and after a new 
invocation of Buddha, the history is continued with the forty-ninth 
verse. The title Mahavansa, as here employed, seems to refer to the 
Dipavansa. 



154 BUDDHA'S DHAMMAPADA, 

that Mah&nama carried on the history to his own time, 
to the death of Dh&tusena or Dasen Kellrya, who died 
in 477. 1 This Dhatusena was the nephew of the his- 
torian Mah&naina, and owed the throne to the protec- 
tion of his uncle. Dhatusena was in fact the restorer 
of a national dynasty, and after having defeated the 
foreign usurpers (the Damilo dynasty) " he restored 
the religion which had been set aside by the foreign- 
ers." 2 Among his many pious acts, it is particularly 
mentioned that he gave a thousand, and ordered the 
Dipavawsa to be promulgated. 3 

As Mahanama was the uncle of Dhatusena, who 
reigned from 459-477, he may be considered a trust- 
worthy witness with regard to facts that occurred 
between 410 and 432. Now the literary activity of 
Buddhaghosha in Ceylon falls in that period, and this 
is what Mahanaina relates of him : 4 — 

" A Brahman youth, born in the neighborhood of the ter- 
race of the great Bo-tree (in Magadha),, accomplished in the 
' vijja ' (knowledge) and ' sippa ' (art), who had achieved the 
knowledge of the three Vedas, and possessed great aptitude in 
attaining acquirements; indefatigable as a schismatic disputant, 
and himself a schismatic wanderer over (rambudipa, established 
himself, in the character of a disputant, in a certain vihara, and 
was in the habit of rehearsing, by night and by day with clasped 
hands, a discourse which he had learned, perfect in all its com- 
ponent parts, and sustained throughout in the same lofty strain. 

1 Mahdvansa, Introduction, p. xxxi. 

2 Ibid. p. 256. 

3 Ibid. p. 257, " And that he might also promulgate the contents 
of the Dipavarcsa, distributing a thousand pieces, he caused it to be 
read aloud thoroughly." The text has, " datva sahassam dipetum 
Dipavansam samadisi," having given a thousand, he ordered the Dipa- 
vansa to be rendered illustrious, or to be copied. (See Westergaard, 
Ueber den altesten Zeitraum der Indischen Geschickte, Breslau, 1862, 
p. 33 ; and Mahdvansa, Introduction, p. xxxii. 1. 2.) 

4 Mahdvansa, p. 250. 



OR "PATH OF VIRTUE." 155 

A certain mahathera, Revata, becoming acquainted with him 
there, and (saying to himself), ' This individual is a person of 
profound knowledge ; it will be worthy (of me) to convert him ;' 
inquired, 'Who is this who is braying like an ass?' The 
Brahman replied to him, ' Thou canst define, then, the meaning 
conveyed in the bray of asses.' On the Thera rejoining, ' I 
can define it ;' he (the Br&hman) exhibited the extent of the 
knowledge he possessed. The Thera criticised each of his prop- 
ositions,' and pointed out in what respect they were fallacious. 
He who had been thus refuted, said, ' Well, then, descend to 
thy own creed ;' and he propounded to him a passage from the 
Abhidhamma (of the Pitakattaya) . He (the Brahman) could 
not divine the signification of that passage, and inquired, 
' Whose manta is this ?' — 'It is Buddha's manta.' On his 
exclaiming, ' Impart it to me;' the Thera replied, < Enter the 
sacerdotal order.' He who was desirous of acquiring the knowl- 
edge of the Pitakattaya, subsequently coming to this con- 
viction, ' This is the sole road' (to salvation), became a con- 
vert to that faith. As he was as profound in his eloquence 
(ghosa) as Buddha himself, they conferred on him the appella- 
tion of Buddhaghosa (the voice of Buddha) ; and throughout 
the world he became as renowned as Buddha. Having there 
(in Crambudipa) composed an original work called ' Nanodaya ' 
(Rise of Knowledge), he, at the same time, wrote the chapter 
called ' Atthasalini, on the Dhammasangani' (one of the Com- 
mentaries on the Abhidhamma). 

" Revata Thera then observing that he was desirous of under- 
taking the compilation of a general commentary on the Pita- 
kattaya, thus addressed him : ' The text alone of the Pita- 
kattaya has been preserved in this land, the AtthakatM are 
not extant here, nor is there any version to be found of the 
schisms (vada) complete. The Singhalese Atthakatha are gen- 
uine. They were composed in the Singhalese language by the 
inspired and profoundly wise Mahinda, who had previously 
consulted the discourses of Buddha, authenticated at the thera- 
convocations, and the dissertations and arguments of Sariputta 
and others, and they are extant among the Singhalese. Prepar- 
ing for this, and studying the same, translate them according to 
the rules of the grammar of the Magadhas. It will be an act 
conducive to the welfare of the whole world.' 

" Having been thus advised, this eminently wise personage 



156 BUDDHA'S DHAMMAPADA, 

rejoicing therein, departed from thence, and visited this island 
in the reign of this monarch (i. e. Mahan&ma). On reaching 
the Mahavihara (at Anuradhapura), he entered the MaMpad- 
hana hall, the most splendid of the apartments in the viMra, 
and listened to the Singhalese AtthakatM, and the Theravada, 
from the beginning to the end, propounded by the thera Sangha- 
pala 5 and became thoroughly convinced that they conveyed 
the true meaning of the doctrines of the Lord of Dhamma. 
Thereupon paying reverential respect to the priesthood, he 
thus petitioned : ' I am desirous of translating the AtthakatM ; 
give me access to all your books.' The priesthood, for the pur- 
pose of testing his qualifications, gave only two gathas, saying, 
' Hence prove thy qualification ; having satisfied ourselves on 
this point, we will then let thee have all our books.' From 
these (taking these gatha for his text), and consulting the Pita- 
kattaya, together with the AtthakatM, and condensing them 
into an abridged form, he composed the work called ' The 
Visuddhimagga.' Thereupon, having assembled the priesthood, 
who had acquired a thorough knowledge of the doctrines of 
Buddha, at the bo-tree, he commenced to read out the work he 
had composed. The devat&s, in order that they might make his 
(Buddhaghosa's) gifts of wisdom celebrated among men, ren- 
dered that book invisible. He, however, for a second and third 
time recomposed it. When he was in the act of producing his 
book for the third time, for the purpose of propounding it, the 
devatas restored the other two copies also. The assembled 
priests then read out the three books simultaneously. In those 
three versions, neither in a signification nor in a single misplace- 
ment by transposition, nay even in the thera-controversies, and 
in the text (of the Pitakattaya) was there, in the measure of a 
verse or in the letter of a word, the slightest variation. There- 
upon, the priesthood rejoicing, again and again fervently shouted 
forth, saying, 'Most assuredly this is Metteya (Buddha) himself/ 
and made over to him the books in which the Pitakattaya were 
recorded, together with the AtthakatM. Taking up his res- 
idence in the secluded Ganthakara vihara, at Anuradhapura, he 
translated, according to the grammatical rules of the Magadhas, 
which is the root of all languages, the whole of the Singhalese 
Atthakatha (into Pali). This proved an achievement of the ut- 
most consequence to all languages spoken by the human race. 
" All the theras and achariyas held this compilation in the 



OR " PATH OF VIRTUE." 157 

same estimation as the text (of the Pitakattaya). Thereafter, 
the objects of his mission having been fulfilled, he returned 
to 6rambudipa, to worship at the bo-tree (at Uruvelaya, or Uru- 
vilva, in JYlagadha)." 

Here we have a simple account of Buddhaghosha 1 
and his literary labors written by a man, himself a 
priest, and who may well have known Buddhaghosha 
during his stay in Ceylon. It is true that the state- 
ment of his writing the same book three times over 
without a single various reading, partakes a little of 
the miraculous ; but we find similar legends mixed up 
with accounts of translations of other sacred books, 
and we cannot contend that writers who believed in 
such legends are therefore unworthy to be believed as 
historical witnesses. 

The next question which has to be answered is this, 
Did Buddhacrhosha's Parables, and the whole of the 
commentary in which they are contained, form part 
of the Arthakatha which he translated from Singha- 
lese into Pali. The answer to this question depends 
on whether the Dhammapada formed part of the Pi- 

1 The Burmese entertain the highest respect for Buddhaghosha. 
Bishop Bigandet, in his Life or Legend of Gaudama (Rangoon, 
1866), writes: "It is perhaps as well to mention here an epoch 
which has been, at all times, famous in the history of Buddhism in 
Burma. I allude to the voyage which a Religious of Thaton, 
named Budhagosa, made to Ceylon, in the year of religion 943=400 
a. c. The object of this voyage was to procure a copy of the scrip- 
tures. He succeeded in his undertaking. He made use of the Bur- 
mese, or rather Talaing characters, in transcribing the manuscripts, 
which were written with the characters of Magatha. The Burmans 
lay much stress upon that voyage, and always carefully note down 
the year it took place. In fact, it is to Budhagosa that the people 
living on the shores of the Gulf of Martaban owe the possession of the 
Budhist scriptures. From Thaton, the collection made by Budhagosa- 
was transferred to Pagan, six hundred and fifty years after it had 
been imported from Ceylon/' 



158 buddha's dhammapada, 

takattaya or not. If the verses of the Dhammapada 
were contained in the canon, then they were also 
explained in the Singhalese Arthakathgt, and conse- 
quently translated from it into Pali by Buddhaghosha. 
Now it is true that the exact place of the Dhammapada 
in the Buddhistic Canon has not yet been pointed out ; 
but if we refer to Appendix iii., printed in Tumour's 
edition of the Mahavawsa, we there find in the third 
part of the canon, the Sutra-pitaka, under No. 5, the 
Kshudraka-nikaya, containing fifteen subdivisions, the 
second of which is the Dhammapada. 

We should, therefore, be perfectly justified in treat- 
ing the parables contained in Buddhaghosha's Pali 
translation of the ArthakathS,, i. e. the commentary 
on the Dhammapada, as part of a much more ancient 
work, namely, the work of Mahinda, and it is only in 
deference to an over-cautious criticism that I have 
claimed no earlier date than that of Buddhaghosha for 
these curious relics of the fable-literature of India. I 
have myself on a former occasion 1 pointed out all the 
objections that can be raised against the authority of 
Buddhaghosha and Mahinda ; but I do not think that 
scholars calling these parables the parables of Mahinda, 
if not of Buddha himself, and referring their date to 
the third century r. c, would expose themselves at 
present to any formidable criticism. 

If we read the pages of the Mahavawsa without 
prejudice, and make allowance for the exaggerations 
and superstitions of Oriental writers, we see clearly 
that the literary work of Buddhaghosha presupposes 
the existence, in some shape or other, not only of the 
canonical books, but also of their Singhalese commen- 
tary. The Buddhistic Canon had been settled in sev- 

1 Chips from a German Workshop, 2d ed. vol. i. p. 197. 



159 

eral councils, whether two or three, we need not here 
inquire. 1 It had received its final form at the council 
held under Asoka in the year 246 b. c. We are fur- 
ther told in the Mahavawsa that Mahinda, the son of 
Asoka, who had become a priest, learnt the whole of 
the Buddhist Canon in three years ; 2 and that at the 
end of the third council he was dispatched to Ceylon, 
in order to establish there the religion of Buddha. 3 
The king of Ceylon, Devanampriya Tishya, was con- 
verted, and Buddhism soon became the dominant relig- 
ion of the island. Next follows a statement which will 
naturally stagger those who are not acquainted with 
the power of memory if under strict discipline for lit- 
erary purposes, but which exceeds by no means the 
limits of what is possible in times when the whole sa- 
cred literature of a people is preserved, and lives by 
oral tradition only. The Pitakattaya, as well as the 
ArthakathS, having been collected and settled at the 
third council in 246 b. c, were brought to Ceylon by 
Mahinda, who promulgated them orally ; 4 the Pita- 
kattaya in Pali, and the ArthakathR in Singhalese, 5 
together with additional Arthakatha" of his own. It 

1 The question of these councils and of their bearing on Indian 
chronology has been discussed by me in my History of Ancient San- 
skrit Literature, p. 262 seq., 2d ed. 

2 Mahdvansa, p. 37. 8 Ibid. p. 71. 4 Cf. Bigandet, 1. c. p. 387. 
5 Singhalese, being the language of the island, would naturally be 

adopted by Mahinda and his fellow-missionaries for communication 
with the natives. If he abstained from translating the canon also into 
Singhalese, this may have been on account of its more sacred charac- 
ter. At a later time, however, the canon, too, was translated into 
Singhalese, and, as late as the time of Buddhadasa, who died 368 a. d., 
we read of a priest, profoundly versed in the doctrines, who translated 
the Sutras, one of the. three divisions of the Pitakattaya, into the Si- 
hala language. Mahdv. p. 247. A note is added, stating that sev- 
eral portions of the other two divisions also of the Pitakattaya have 
been translated into the Singhalese language, and that these alone are 



160 BUDDHA'S DHAMMAPADA, 

does not follow that Mahinda knew the whole of 
that enormous literature by heart, for, as he was sup- 
ported by a number of priests, they may well have di- 
vided the different sections among them. The same 
applies to their disciples. But that to the Hindu mind 
there was nothing exceptional or incredible in such a 
statement, Ave see clearly from what is said by Mah&- 
nama at a later period of his history. When he comes 
to the reign of Va^agamani, 1 88-76 b. c, he states : 
" The profoundly wise priests had heretofore orally 
perpetuated the Pali Pitakattaya and its Arthakath& 
(commentaries). At this period these priests, foresee- 
ing the perdition of the people (from the perversions 
of the true doctrines) assembled ; and in order that 
the religion might endure for ages, recorded the same 
in books." 2 

Later than this date, even those who doubt the 
powers of oral tradition have no right to place the final 
constitution of the Buddhistic Canon and its commen- 
taries in Ceylon, nor is there any reason to doubt that 
such as these texts existed in Ceylon in the first cen- 
tury b. c.| they existed in the fifth century after Christ, 

consulted by the priests who are unacquainted with Pali. On the 
other hand, it is stated that the Singhalese text of the Arthakatha ex- 
ists no longer (see Spence Hardy, Legends, p. xxv., and p. 69). He 
states that the text and commentary of the Buddhist Canon are be- 
lieved to contain 29,368,000 letters. Ibid. p. 66. 

1 See Bigandet, 1. c. p. 388. 

2 See also Spence Hardy, Legends, p. 192. "After the Nirvana of 
Buddha, for the space of four hundred and fifty years, the text and 
commentaries, and all the works of the Tathagata, were preserved and 
transmitted by wise priests, orally, mukha-paMena. But having seen 
the evils attendant upon this mode of transmission, five hundred and 
fifty arhats, of great authority, in the cave called Aloka ( Alu) in the 
province of Malaya, in Lanka, under the guardianship of the chief of 
that province, caused the (sacred) books to be written." — Extract from 
the "Sdra-sangraha." 



OR " PATH OF VIETUE." 161 

when the commentaries were translated into Pali by 
Buddhaghosha, and that afterwards they remained un- 
changed in the MSS. preserved by the learned priests 
of that island. It is easy»to shrug one's shoulders, and 
shake one's head, and to disbelieve everything that can 
be disbelieved. Of course we cannot bring witnesses 
back from the grave, still less from the Nirvana, into 
which, we trust, many of these ancient worthies have 
entered. But if we are asked to believe that all this 
was invented in order to give to the Buddhistic Canon 
a fictitious air of antiquity, the achievement would, in- 
deed, be one of consummate skill. When Asoka first 
met Nigrodha, who was to convert him to the new 
faith, we read, 1 that having refreshed the saint with 
food and beverage which had been prepared for him- 
self, he interrogated the samanera on the doctrines 
propounded by Buddha. It is then said that the sama- 
nera explained to him the Apramada-varga. Now this 
Apramada-varga is the title of the second chapter of 
the Dhammapada. Its mention here need not prove 
that the Dhammapada existed previous to the Council 
of Asoka, 246 b. c, but only that Mahanama believed 
that it existed before that time. But if we are to sup- 
pose that all this was put in on purpose, would it not 
be too deep-laid a scheme for the compiler of the Ma- 
hava/isa ? 2 

And for what object could all this cunning have 
been employed ? The Buddhists would have believed 
the most miraculous accounts that might be given of 
the origin and perpetuation of their sacred writings ; 
why then tell the story so plainly, so baldly, so simply 

1 Mahdvansa, p. 25. 

2 In the account given by Bishop Bigandet (p. 377) of the first in- 
terview between Asoka and Nigrodha, the lines repeated by the priest 
to the king are likewise taken from the Apramada-varga. 

11 



162 BUDDHA'S DHAMMAPADA, 

as a matter of fact ? I have the greatest respect for 
really critical skepticism, but a skepticism without any 
arguments to support it is too cheap a virtue to deserve 
much consideration. Till we hear some reasons to the 
contrary, I believe we may safely say that we possess 
Buddhaghosha's translation of the Arthakath& as it 
existed in the fifth century of our era ; that the orig- 
inal was first reduced to writing in Ceylon in the first 
century before our era, having previously existed in 
the language of Magadha ; and that our verses of the 
Dhammapada are the same which were recited to 
Asoka, and embodied in the canon of the third coun- 
cil, 246 b. c. This is enough for our purposes : the 
chronology previous to Asoka, or at least previous to 
his grandfather, iTandragupta, the ally of Seleucus, be- 
longs to a different class of researches. 

As, however, the antiquity and authenticity of the 
Buddhist literature have of late been called in question 
in a most summary manner, it may not seem superfluous 
to show, by one small fact at least, that the fables and 
parables of Buddhaghosha must have existed in the very 
wording in which we possess them, in the beginning, at 
least, of the sixth century of our era. It was at that 
time that Khosru Anushirvan (531-579) ordered a 
collection of fables 1 to be translated from Sanskrit into 
the language of Persia, which translation became in 
turn the source of the Arabic and the other numerous 
translations of that ancient collection of apologues. 
These Sanskrit fables as collected in the Paii&atantra, 
have been proved by Prof. Benfey to have been bor- 
rowed from Buddhistic sources ; and I believe we may 
go even a step further and maintain, that not only the 
general outlines of these fables, but in some cases the 
very words, were taken over from Pali into Sanskrit. 

1 See Benfey, Pantschatantra, voLi. p. 6. 



OR "PATH OF VIRTUE." 163 

We read in the Pan&atantra, ii. 10, the following 
verse : — 

Galam Maya ga&Manti sahasa" * pakshino B py ami, 
Yava£ £a vivadishyante patishyanti na samsayaA. 

" Even these birds fly away quickly taking the net ; 
and when they shall quarrel, they will fall, no doubt." 

This verse recapitulates the story of the birds which 
are caught in a net, but escape the fowler by agreeing 
to fly up together at the same moment. The same 
story is told in the Hitopadesa, i. 36 (32) : — 

Samhatas tu haranty ete mama galaw viha/ngamaA, 
Yad& tu nipatishyanti vasam eshyanti me tada. 

" Combined indeed do these birds take away my 
net ; but when they fall down, they will then fall into 
my power." 

The first thing that should be pointed out is, that 
of these two versions of the same idea, neither is bor- 
rowed from the other, neither that of the Hitopadesa 
from the Pan^antra, nor vice versd. 2 They presup- 
pose a common source from which they are derived, 
thus sharing together certain terms in common, and 
following an independent course in other respects. 
This common source is a Pali verse which occurs in 

1 If we read " samhataA " iustead of " sahasa," we have to translate, 
" Holding together even these birds fly away, taking the net." 

% A third version is found in the Mahabharata, Udoyaga-parva, v. 
2461, where a similar story is told of two birds being caught and es- 
caping from the fowler by agreeing to fly up together. Here we 
read : — 

Pasam ekam ubhav etam sahitau harato mama, 
Yatra vai vivadishyete tatra me vasam eshyataA. 

" These two united carry off this one net of mine ; when they shall 
quarrel, then they will fall into my power." 



164 budddha's dhammapada, 

the Vattaka-^ataka, and is quoted by Buddhaghosha 

in his commentary on the Sutra-nipata. 1 

Sawmiodaniana ga£Manti #alam adaya pakkhino, 
Yad& te vivadissanti tada ehinti me vasaw. 

" The birds fly away, taking the net while they are 
happy together ; when they shall quarrel, then they 
will come into my power." 

If we mark these three verses by the letters P., H., 
and V., we see that P. takes from V. the words " gk- 
lam Maya ga&Manti pakshmaA " and " vivadishyante," 
while H. takes from V. the words " vasam eshyanti 
me tada\" For the rest, H. and P. follow each their 
own way in transforming the P&li verse, as best they 
can, into a Sanskrit verse, and H. with more success 
than P. The words " apy ami " in P. are mere exple- 
tives, " patishyanti " is a poor rendering, and " na sam- 
sayaA " again is added only in order to fill the verse. 
Without calling H. and P. together a faithful copy of 
V., I think we may safely say that it would be impos- 
sible to explain both the points on which H. and P. 
differ and those on which they agree, without admit- 
ting that both had before them the Pali verse in the 
very wording in which we find it in Buddhaghosha's 
commentary, and which, according to Buddhaghosha, 
was taken from one of the (xatakas, a portion of the 
Buddhistic Canon. And this would prove, though one 
could hardly have thought that, after the labors of 
Burnouf and Lassen and Julien, 2 such proof was still 

1 This extract from the commentary was published by Dr. FausbolJ 
in the Indische Studien, vol. v. p. 412, and the similarity was pointed out 
between the verse of Buddhaghosha and the corresponding verses in 
the Hitopadesa and Pan&atantra. Further comparisons may be seen 
in Benfey, Pankatantra, vol. i. p. 305 ; vol. ii. pp. 450, 540. See also Les 
Avadanas traduits par Stanislas Julien, vol. i. p. 155. 

2 On Buddhist books carried to China and translated there previous 
to the beginning of our era, see M. M/s Chips from a German Work' 
shop, 2d ed. vol. i. p. 258, seq. 



165 

needed, that the Buddhist Canon and its commentarv 
existed in the very wording in which we now possess 
them, previous at least to 500 after Christ. 

ON THE IMPORTANCE OF THE DHAMMAPADA. 

If we may consider the date of the Dhammapada 
firmly established, and treat its verses, if not as the 
utterances of Buddha, at least as what were believed 
by the members of the council under Asoka, in 246 
B. c, to have been the utterances of the founder of 
their religion, its importance for a critical study of the 
history of Buddhism must be very considerable, for 
we can hardly ever expect to get nearer to Buddha 
himself and to his personal teaching. I shall try to 
illustrate this by one or two examples. 

I pointed out on a former occasion l that if we de- 
rive our ideas of Nirvawa from the Abhidharma, i. e., 
the metaphysical portion of the Buddhistic Canon, we 
cannot escape the conclusion that that it meant per- 
fect annihilation. Nothing has been brought forward 
to invalidate Burnouf s statements on this subject, 
much has since been added, particularly by M. Bar- 
the*lemy St. Hilaire, to strengthen and support them, 
and the latest writer on Buddhism, Bishop Bigandet, 
the Vicar Apostolic of Ava and Pegu, in his "Life and 
Legend of Gaudama, the Buddha of the Burmese," 
arrives at exactly the same conclusion. No one could 
suspect the bishop of any prejudice against Buddhism, 
for he is most candid in his praises of whatever is 
praiseworthy in that ancient system of religion. Thus 
he says 2 "The Christian system and the Buddhistic 
one, though differing from each other in their respect- 

1 On the meaning of Nirvana, in Chips from a German Workshop, 
2d ed. vol. i. p. 280. 2 Page 494. 



166 BUDDHA'S DHAMMAPADA, 

ive objects and ends as much as truth from error, 
have, it must be confessed, many striking features of 
an astonishing resemblance. There are many moral 
precepts equally commanded and enforced in common 
by both creeds. It will not be considered rash to as- 
sert that most of the moral truths prescribed by the 
gospel are to be met with in the Buddhistic scrip- 
tures." And again, 1 " In reading the particulars of 
the life of the last Budha Gautama, it is impossible 
not to feel reminded of many circumstances relating to 
our Saviour's life, such as it has been sketched by the 
Evangelists." Yet, in spite of all these excellences, 
Bishop Bigandet, too, sums up dead against Budhism, 
as a religion culminating in atheism and nihilism. 
" It may be said in favor of Buddhism," he writes, 2 
" that no philosophico-religious system has ever upheld, 
to an equal degree, the notions of a savior and deliv- 
erer, and the necessity of his mission for procuring the 
salvation, in a Buddhistic sense, of man. The role of 
Buddha, from beginning to end, is that of a deliverer, 
who preaches a law designed to procure to man the 
deliverance from all the miseries he is laboring under. 
By an inexplicable and deplorable eccentricity, the 
pretended savior, after having taught man the way 
to deliver himself from the tyranny of his passions, 
leads him, after all, into the bottomless gulf of 'total 
annihilation.' " 

That Buddha was an atheist, at least in one sense 
of the word, cannot be denied, but whether he believed 
in a total annihilation of the soul as the highest goal 
of religion, is a different question. The gods whom 
he found worshipped by the multitude, were the gods 
of the Vedas and the Br&hinawas, such as Indra, Agni, 
1 Page 495. 2 Page viii. 



OR "PATH OF VIRTUE." 167 

and Yama, and in the divinity of such deities, Buddha 
certainly did not believe. He never argues against 
their existence ; on the contrary, he treats the old 
gods as superhuman beings, and promises his followers 
who have not yet reached the highest knowledge, but 
have acquired merit by a virtuous life, that after death 
they shall be born again in the world of the gods, and 
enjoy divine bliss in company with these deities. Sim- 
ilarly he threatens the wicked that after death they 
shall meet with their punishment in the subterranean 
abodes and hells, where Asuras, Sarpas, Pretas, and 
other spirits dwell. The belief in these beings was so 
firmly rooted in the popular belief and language that 
even the founder of a new religion could not have 
dared to reason them away, and there was so little in 
the doctrine of Buddha that appealed to the senses or 
lent itself to artistic representation, whether in paint- 
ing or sculpture, that nothing remained to Buddhist 
artists but to fall back for their own purposes on the 
old mythology, or at least on the popular superstition, 
the fairy and snake tales of the people. 1 

1 This may be seen from the curious ornamentations of Buddhist 
temples, some of which were lately published by Mr. Fergusson. 
Those of the Sanchi tope are taken from drawings executed for the late 
East India Company by Lieutenant (now Lieutenant-colonel) Maisey, 
and from photographs by Lieutenant Waterhouse ; those of the Am- 
ravati tope are photographed from the sculptured slabs sent home by 
Colonel Mackenzie, formerly exhibited in the Museum of the East 
India Company, and from another valuable collection sent home by 
Sir Walter Elliot. Architectural evidence is supposed to fix the date 
of the Sanchi topes from about 250-100 b. c. ; that of the gateways in 
the first century a. d. ; while the date of the Amravati buildings is 
referred to the fourth century a. d. No one would venture to doubt 
Mr. Fergusson's authority within the sphere of architectural chronol- 
ogy, but we want something more than mere affirmation when he says 
(p. 56), " that the earliest of the (Buddhist) scriptures we have were 
not reduced to writing in their present form before the fifth century 
after Christ." 



168 buddha's dhammapada, 

The gods, in general, are frequently mentioned in 
the Dhammapada : — 

V. 177. The uncharitable do not go to the world 
of the gods. 

V. 224. Speak the truth, do not yield to anger ; 
give, if thou art asked, from the little thou hast ; by 
those steps thou wilt go near the gods. 

V. 417. He who, after leaving all bondage to men, 
has risen above all bondage to the gods, him I call 
indeed a Br&hmawa. 

In w. 44 and 45 three worlds are mentioned, the 
earth, the world of Yama (the lord of the departed), 
and the world of the gods ; and in v. 126 we find hell 
(niraya), earth, heaven (svarga), and Nirvana. 

In v. 56 it is said that the odor of excellent people 
rises up to the gods ; in vv. 94 and 181, that the gods 
envy him whose senses have been subdued ; in v. 366, 
that they praise a Bhikshu who is contented, pure, 
and not slothful (cf. v. 230) ; in v. 224, that good 
people go near the gods ; in v. 236, that a man who 
is free from guilt will enter into the heavenly world 
of the elect (the ariya) ; while in v. 187 we read of 
heavenly pleasures that fail to satisfy the disciples of 
Buddha. 

Individual deities, too, are mentioned. Of Indra, 
who is called Maghavan, it is said in v. 30, that by 
perseverance he rose to the lordship of the gods. 1 In 
vv. 107 and 392 the worship of Agni, or fire, is spoken 
of as established among the Brahmans. Yama, as the 
lord of the departed, occurs in vv. 44, 237, and he 
seems to be the same as MaMuraga, the king of death, 
mentioned in vv. 45, 170. The men or messengers 

1 There is a curious story of Buddha dividing his honors with Sakka 
(Sakra) or Indra on p. 162 of the Parables. 



OR "PATH OF VIRTUE." 169 

of Yama are spoken of in v. 235 ; death itself is repre- 
sented as Antaka, vv. 48, 288, or as Ma^u ; in v. 46 
the king of death (maMurt^a) is mentioned together 
with M&ra ; in v. 48 he seems to be identified with 
Mara, the tempter (v. 48, note). 

This Mara, the tempter, the great antagonist of 
Buddha, as well as of his followers, is a very impor- 
tant personage in the Buddhist scriptures. He is in 
many places the representative of evil, the evil spirit, 
or, in Christian terminology, the devil, conquered by 
Buddha, but not destroyed by him. In the Dhamma- 
pada his character is less mythological than in other 
Buddhist writings. His retinue is, however, mentioned 
(v. 175), and his flower-pointed arrow (v. 46) re- 
minds one of the Hindu god of love. We read that 
Mara will overcome the careless, but not the faithful 
(vv. 7, 8, 57) ; that men try to escape from his do- 
minion (v. 34), and his snares (vv. 37, 276, 350) ; 
that he should be attacked with the weapon of knowl- 
edge (v. 40) ; that the wise, who have conquered him, 
are led out of this world (v. 175). In vv. 104 and 
105 we find a curious climax, if it is intended as such, 
from a god to a Gandharva, thence to M&ra, and 
finally to Brahman, all of whom are represented as 
powerless against a man who has conquered himself. 
In v. 230, too, Brahman is mentioned, and, as it 
would seem, as a being superior to the gods. 

But although these gods and demons were recog- 
nized in the religion of Buddha, and had palaces, gar- 
dens, and courts assigned to them, hardly inferior to 
those which they possessed under the old regime, they 
were deprived of all their sovereign rights. Although, 
according to the Buddhists, the worlds of the gods 
last for millions of years, they must perish at the end 



170 BUDDHA'S DHAMMAPADA, 

of every kalpa with the gods and with the spirits who, 
in the circle of births, have raised themselves to the 
world of the gods. Indeed, the reorganization of the 
spirit-world in the hands of Buddha goes farther still. 
Already before Buddha, the Brahmans had left the 
low stand-point of mythological polytheism, and had 
risen to the conception of the Brahman, as the abso- 
lute divine, or super-divine being. To this Brahman 
also, who, in the Dhammapada, already appears as 
superior to the gods, a place is assigned in the Bud- 
dhist demonology. Over and above the world of the 
gods with its six paradises, the sixteen Brahma-worlds 
are erected — worlds, not to be attained through vir- 
tue, and piety only, but through inner contemplation, 
through knowledge and enlightenment. 

The dwellers in these Brahma- worlds are more than 
gods ; they are spiritual beings, without body, without 
weight, without desires. Nay, even this is not suffi- 
cient, and as the Brahmans had imagined a higher 
Brahman, without form and without suffering (tatoyad 
uttarataram tad arupam an&mayam, Svet. Up. 3, 10), 
the Buddhists, too, in their ideal dreams, imagined four 
other worlds towering high above the worlds of Brah- 
man, which they call Arupa, the worlds of the Form- 
less. All these worlds are open to man, after he has 
divested himself of all that is human, and numberless 
beings are constantly ascending and descending in the 
circle of time, according to the works they have per- 
formed, and according to the truths they have dis- 
covered. But in all these worlds the law of change 
prevails, in none is there exemption from birth, age, 
and death. The world of the gods will perish like 
that of men ; the world of Brahman will vanish like 
that of the gods ; nay, even the world of the Form- 



OR "PATH OF VIRTUE." 171 

less will not last forever ; but the Buddha, the en- 
lightened and truly free, stands higher, and will not 
be affected or disturbed by the collapse of the uni- 
verse, Si fractus illabatur orbis, impavidum ferient 
ruinae. 

Here, however, we meet with a vein of irony, which 
one would hardly have expected in Buddha. Gods 
and devils he has located, to all mythological and 
philosophical acquisitions of the past he had done jus- 
tice as far as possible. Even fabulous beings, such as 
Nagas, Gandharvas, and Garudas, had escaped the 
process of dissolution and sublimization which was to 
reach them later at the hands of comparative mycol- 
ogists. There is only one idea, the idea of a personal 
Creator, in regard to which Buddha seems merciless. 
It is not only denied, but even its origin, like that of 
an ancient myth, is carefully explained by him with 
the minutest detail. The Rev. D. J. Gogerly, in his 
numerous articles published in the local journals of 
Ceylon, has collected and translated the most impor- 
tant passages from the Buddhist Canon bearing on this 
subject. The Rev. Spence Hardy, 1 too, another dis- 
tinguished missionary in Ceylon, has several times 
touched on this point — a point, no doubt, of great 
practical importance to Christian missionaries. They 
dwell on such passages as when Buddha said to Up&- 
saka, an ascetic, who inquired who was his teacher 
and whose doctrine he embraced, " I have no teacher ; 
there is no one who resembles me. In the world of 
the gods I have no equal. I am the most noble in the 
world, being the irrefutable teacher, the sole, all-per- 
fect Buddha." In the Para^ika section of the Vinaya 
Pitaka, a conversation is recorded between Buddha 

1 Legends and Theories of the Buddhists, 1866, p. 171. 



172 BUDDHA'S DHAMMAPADA, 

and a Brahman, who accused him of not honoring 
aged Brahmans, of not rising in their presence, and of 
not inviting them to be seated. Buddha replied, 
" Brahman, I do not see any one in the heavenly 
worlds nor in that of Mara, nor among the inhabi- 
tants of the Brahma-worlds, nor among gods or men, 
whom it would be proper for me to honor, or in whose 
presence I ought to rise up, or whom I ought to re- 
quest to be seated. Should the Tathagata (Buddha) 
thus act towards any one, that person's head would 
fall off." 

Such doctrines, as Gogerly points out, are irrecon- 
cilable with the doctrine of a universal Creator, who 
must necessarily be superior to all the beings formed 
and supported by him. But the most decisive passage 
on the subject is one taken from the Brahma-^ala- 
sutra, 1 the first in the Dirgha nikaya, which is itself 
the first work of the Sutra Pitaka. It was translated 
by Gogerly, whose translation I follow, as the text 
has not yet been published. In the Brahma-^ala- 
sutra, Buddha discourses respecting the sixty-two dif- 
ferent sects ; among whom four held the doctrine both 
of the preexistence of the soul, and of its eternal 
duration through countless transmigrations. Others 
believed that some souls have always existed, whilst 
others have had a commencement of existence. Among 
these one sect is described as believing in the exist- 
ence of a Creator, and it is here that Buddha brings 
together his arguments against the correctness of this 
opinion. " There is a time," he says, " O Bhikshus, 
when, after a very long period, this world is destroyed. 
On the destruction of the world very many beings ob- 

1 See J. D'Alwis's Pali Grammar, p. 88, note; Tumour, Mahd- 
vansa, Appendix iii. p. lxxv. 



OR "PATH OF VIRTUE." 173 

tained existence in the Abhasvara x Brahmaloka, which 
is the sixth in the series, and in which the term of life 

1 The Abhasvara gods, abhassara in Pali, are mentioned already in 
the Dhammapada, v. 200, but none of the minute details, describing 
the six worlds of the gods, and the sixteen worlds of Brahman, and 
the four of Ariipa, are to be found there. The universe is repre- 
sented (v. 126) as consisting of hell (niraya), earth, heaven (svarga), 
and Nirvana. In v. 44 we find the world of Yama, the earth, and the 
world of the gods; in v. 104 we read of gods, Gandharvas, Mara, 
and Brahman. The ordinary expression, too, which occurs in almost 
all languages, namely, in this world and in the next, is not avoided by 
the author of the Dhammapada. Thus we read in v. 168, " amim loke 
paramhi ka," in this world and in the next (cf. vv. 242, 410) ; we find 
in v. 20 "idha va huram va," here or there; in v. 15-18 we find 
"idha" and "peH;a," here and yonder; peMa, i. e. pretya, meaning 
literally, " after having died " (cf. vv. 131, 306). We also find " idh'eva," 
here (v. 402), and " idha lokasmin," here in the world (v. 247), or sim- 
ply " loke," in this world (v. 89) ; and " parattha " for " paratra," yon- 
der, or in the other world. 

A very characteristic expression, too, is that of v. 176, where, as 
one of the greatest crimes, is mentioned the scoffing at another world. 

The following is a sketch of the universe and its numerous worlds, 
according to the later systems of the Buddhists. There are differ- 
ences, however, in different schools. 

1. The infernal regions : 

(1) Nyaya, hell. 

(2) The abode of animals. 

(3) The abode of Pretas, ghosts. 

(4) The abode of Asuras, demons. 

2. The earth : 

(1 ) Abode of men. 

3. The worlds of the gods : 

(1) isTatur-mahara^a (duration, 9,000,000 years). 

(2) Trayastrimsa (duration, 36,000,000 years). 

(3) Yama (duration, 144,000,000 years). 

(4) Tushita (duration, 576,000,000 years). 

(5) Nirmana rati (duration, 2,304,000,000 years). 

(6) Paranirmita-vasavartin (duration, 9,216,000,000 years). 

4. The worlds of Brahman: 

(a) First Dhyana : 

(1) Brahma-parishadya (duration, ^ kalpa). 

(2) Brahma-purohita (duration, •£ kalpa). 

(3) Mahabrahman (duration, one kalpa). 



174 

never exceeds eight kalpas. They are there spiritual 
beings (having purified bodies, uncontaminated with 
evil passions, or with any corporeal defilement) ; they 
have intellectual pleasures, are self-resplendent, trav- 
erse the atmosphere without impediment, and remain 
for a long time established in happiness. After a very 
long period this mundane system is reproduced, and 
the world named Brahma-vimana (the third of the 
Brahmalokas) comes into existence, but uninhabited." 

" At that time a being, in consequence either of the period of 
residence in Abhasvara being expired, or in consequence of some 
deficiency of merit preventing him from living there the full 

(b) Second Dhyana : 
(4^ Parittabha (duration, two kalpas). 

(5) Apramanabha (duration, four kalpas). 

(6) Abhasvara (duration, eight kalpas). 

(c) Third Dhyana: 

(7) Parittasubha (duration, sixteen kalpas). 

(8) Apramanasubha (duration, thirty-two kalpas). 

(9) /Subhakritsna (duration, sixty-four kalpas). 

(d) Fourth Dhyana : 

(Anabhraka, of Northern Buddhism.) 
(Purcya-prasava, of Northern Buddhism.) 

(10) Vrihat-phala (500 kalpas). 

(11) Arangisattvas or Asangisattvas, of Nepal ; Asanyasatya, of 

Ceylon (500 kalpas). 

(e) Fifth Dhyana: 

(12) Avriha (1,000 kalpas). 

(13) Atapa (2,000 kalpas). 

(14) Sudrisa (4,000 kalpas). 

(15) Sudarsana (8,000 kalpas). 

(Sumukha, of Nepal.) 

(16) Akanishi/ia (16,000 kalpas). 
5. The world of Arupa : 

(1) Akasanantyayatanam (20,000 kalpas). 

(2) Vi^nananantyayatanam (40,000 kalpas). 

(3) Akin&anyayatanam (60,000 kalpas). 

(4) Naivasa%nanasa%nayatanam (30,000 kalpas). 

Cf. Burnouf, Introduction, p. 599 seq. ; Lotus, p. 811 seq. ; Hardy, 
Manual, p. 25 seq. ; Bigandet, p. 449. 



OR " PATH OF VIRTUE." 175 

period, ceased to exist in AbMsvara, and was reproduced in the 
uninhabited Brahma-vimana. He was there a spiritual being ; 
his pleasures were intellectual ; he was self-resplendent, traversed 
the atmosphere, and, for a long time, enjoyed uninterrupted fe- 
licity. After living there a very long period in solitude, a desire 
of having an associate is felt by him, and he says, ' Would that 
another being were dwelling in this place.' At that precise junc- 
ture another being ceasing to exist in Abhasvara, comes into ex- 
istence in the Brahma-vimana, in the vicinity of the first one. 
They are both of them spiritual beings, have intellectual pleas- 
ures, are self-resplendent, traverse the atmosphere, and are, for a 
long time, in the enjoyment of happiness. Then the following 
thoughts arose in him who was the first existent in that Brahma- 
loka : ' I am Brahma, the Great Brahma, the Supreme, the Invin- 
cible, the Omniscient, the Governor of all things, the Lord of 
all. I am the Maker, the Creator of all things ; I am the Chief, 
the disposer and controller of all, the Universal Father. This 
being was made by me. How does this appear ? Formerly I 
thought, Would that another being were in this place, and upon 
my volition this being came here.' Those beings also, who after- 
wards obtained an existence there, thought, ' This illustrious 
Brahma is the Great Brahma, the Supreme, the Invincible, the 
Omniscient, the Ruler, the Lord, the Creator of all. He is the 
Chief, the Disposer of all things, the Controller of all, the Uni- 
versal Father. We were created by him, for we see that he was 
first here, and that we have since then obtained existence. Fur- 
thermore, he who first obtained existence there lives during a 
very long period, exceeds in beauty, and is of immense power, 
but those who followed him are short-lived, of inferior beauty, 
and of little power.' 

" It then happens, that one of those beings ceasing to exist 
there, is born in this world, and afterwards retires from society 
and becomes a recluse. He subjects his passions, is persevering 
in the practice of virtue, and by profound meditation he recol- 
lects his immediately previous state of existence, but none prior 
to that; he therefore says, ' That illustrious Brahma is the Great 
Brahma, the Supreme, the Invincible, the Omniscient, the Ruler, 
the Lord, the Maker, the Creator of all. He is the Chief, the 
Disposer of all things, the Controller of all, the Universal Fa- 
ther. That Brahma by whom we were created is ever-enduring, 
immutable, eternal, unchangeable, continuing forever the same. 



176 BUDDHA'S DHAMMAPADA, 

But we, who have been created by this illustrious Brahma, are 
mutable, short-lived, and mortal.' " 

There is, it seems to me, an unmistakable note of 
irony in this argumentation against the belief in a per- 
sonal Creator ; and to any one acquainted with the 
language of the Upanishads, the pointed allusions to 
expressions occurring in those philosophical and relig- 
ious treatises of the Brahmans are not to be mistaken. 
If then it is true, as Gogerly remarks, that many who 
call themselves Buddhists acknowledge the existence 
of a Creator, the question naturally arises, whether the 
point-blank atheism of the Brahma-^ala was the doc- 
trine of the founder of Buddhism or not. 

This is, in fact, but part of the problem so often 
started, whether it is possible to distinguish between 
Buddhism and the personal teaching of Buddha. We 
possess the Buddhist Canon, and whatever is found in 
that canon we have a right to consider as the ortho- 
dox Buddhist doctrine. But as there has been no lack 
of efforts in Christian theology to distinguish between 
the doctrine of the founder of our religion and that of 
the writers of the Gospels, to go beyond the canon of 
the New Testament, and to make the \6yia of the Mas- 
ter the only solid rule of our faith, so the same want 
was felt at a very early period among the followers of 
Buddha. King Asoka, the Indian Constantine, had 
to remind the assembled priests at the great council 
which had to settle the Buddhist Canon, that, " what 
had been said by Buddha, that alone was well said" 1 
Works attributed to Buddha, but declared to be apoc- 
ryphal, or even heterodox, existed already at that 
time (246 b. a). Thus we are by no means without 
authority for distinguishing between Buddhism and the 

1 M. M.'s Chips from a German Workshop, 2d ed. vol. i. p. xxiv. 



OR " PATH OF VIRTUE." 177 

teaching of Buddha ; the only question is, whether in 
our time such a separation is still practicable ? 

My belief is that, in general, all honest inquirers 
must oppose a No to this question, and confess that it 
is useless to try to cast a glance beyond the bounda- 
ries of the Buddhist Canon. What we find in the 
canonical books in the so-called " Three Baskets," is 
orthodox Buddhism and the doctrine of Buddha, simi- 
larly as we must accept in general whatever we find 
in the four Gospels as orthodox Christianity and the 
doctrine of Christ. 

Still, with regard to certain doctrines and facts, the 
question, I think, ought to be asked again and again 
whether it may not be possible to advance a step fur- 
ther even with the conviction that we cannot arrive at 
results of apodictic certainty ? If it happens that on 
certain points we find in different parts of the canon, 
not only doctrines differing from each other, but plainly 
contradictory to each other, it follows, surely, that one 
only of these can have belonged to Buddha person- 
ally. In such a case, therefore, I believe we have a 
right to choose, and I believe we shall be justified in 
accepting that view as the original one, the one pe- 
culiar to Buddha himself, which harmonizes least with 
the later system of orthodox Buddhism. 

As regards the denial of a Creator, or atheism in 
the ordinary acceptation of the word, I do not think 
that any one passage from the books of the canon 
known to us can be quoted which contravenes it, or 
which in any way presupposes the belief in a personal 
God or Creator. All that might be urged are the 
words said to have been spoken by Buddha at the 
time when he became the Enlightened, the Buddha. 
They are as follows : " Without ceasing shall I run 

12 



178 BUDDHA'S DHAMMAPADA, 

through a course of many births, looking for the maker 
of this tabernacle, — and painful is birth again and 
again. But now, maker of the tabernacle, thou hast 
been seen ; thou shalt not make up this tabernacle 
again. All thy rafters are broken, thy ridge-pole is 
sundered ; the mind, being sundered, has attained to 
the extinction of all desires." 

Here in the maker of the tabernacle, i. e., the body, 
one might be tempted to see a creator. But he who 
is acquainted with the general run of thought in Bud- 
dhism, soon finds that this architect of the house is 
only a poetical expression, and that whatever meaning 
may underlie it, it evidently signifies a force subor- 
dinate to the Buddha, the Enlightened. 

But whilst we have no ground for exonerating the 
Buddha personally from the accusation of atheism, the 
matter stands very differently as regards the charge of 
nihilism. The Buddhist nihilism has always been 
much more incomprehensible than mere atheism. A 
kind of religion is still conceivable, when there is 
something firm somewhere, when a something, eternal 
and self-dependent, is recognized, if not without and 
above man, at least within him. But if, as Buddhism 
teaches, the soul, after having passed through all the 
phases of existence, all the worlds of the gods and of 
the higher spirits, attains finally Nirvana as its highest 
aim and last reward, i. e. becomes utterly extinct, then 
religion is not any more what it is meant to be, — a 
bridge from the finite to the infinite, but a trap-bridge 
hurling man into the abyss at the very moment when 
he thought he had arrived at the stronghold of the 
Eternal. According to the metaphysical doctrine of 
Buddhism, the soul cannot dissolve itself in a higher 
being, or be absorbed in the absolute substance, as 



OR "PATH OF VIRTUE." 179 

was taught by the Brahmans, and other mystics of 
ancient and modern times ; for Buddhism knew not 
the Divine, the Eternal, the Absolute ; and the soul 
even as the I, or as the mere Self, the Atman, as 
called by the Brahmans, was represented in the ortho- 
dox metaphysics of Buddhism as transient, as futile, as 
a mere phantom. 

No person who reads with attention the metaphys- 
ical speculations on the Nirvana contained in the third 
part of the Buddhist Canon, can arrive at any other 
conviction than that expressed by Burnouf, namely, 
that Nirvana, the highest aim, the summum bonum of 
Buddhism, is the absolute nothing. 

Burnouf adds, however, that this doctrine appears 
in its crude form in the third part only of the canon, 
the so-called Abhidharma, but not in the first and 
second parts, in the Sutras, the sermons, and the Vi- 
naya, the ethics, which together bear the name of 
Dharma, or Law. He next points out that, according 
to some ancient authorities, this entire part of the 
canon was designated as not " pronounced by Bud- 
dha." 1 These are, at once, two important limitations. 
I add a third, and maintain that savings of Buddha 
occur in the Dhammapada, which are in open contra- 
diction to this metaphysical nihilism. 

Now, first, as regards the soul, or the self, the exist- 
ence of which, according to the orthodox metaphysics, 
is purely phenomenal, 2 a sentence attributed to the 
Buddha 3 says, " Self is the Lord of Self, who else 

1 Max Muller's Chips, 2d ed. vol. i. p. 285, note. 

2 See Wassiljew, Der Buddhismus, p. 296, (269) ; and Bigandet's 
Life of Gaudama, p. 479. " The things that I see and know, are 
not myself, nor from myself, nor to myself. What seems to he my- 
self is in reality neither myself nor belongs to myself." 

3 Dhammapada, v. 160. 



180 BUDDHA'S DHAMMAPADA, 

could be the Lord ? " And again, 1 " A man who con- 
trols himself enters the untrodden land through his 
own self-controlled self." But this untrodden land is 
the Nirvana. 

Nirvana certainly means extinction, whatever its 
later arbitrary interpretations 2 may have been, and 
seems therefore to imply, even etymologically, a real 
blowing out or passing away. But Nirvana occurs 
also in the Brahmanic writings as synonymous with 
Moksha, 3 Nirvritti, 3 and other words, all designating 
the highest stage of spiritual liberty and bliss, but not 
annihilation. Nirv&na may mean the extinction of 
many things, — of selfishness, desire, and sin, without 
going so far as the extinction of subjective conscious- 
ness. Further, if we consider that Buddha himself, 
after he had already seen Nirvana, still remains on 
earth until his body falls a prey to death ; that in the 
legends Buddha appears to his disciples even after his 
death, it seems to me that all these circumstances are 
hardly reconcilable with the orthodox metaphysical 
doctrine of Nirvana. 

But I go even further and maintain that, if we look 
in the Dhammapada at every passage where Nirvana is 
mentioned, there is not one which would require that its 

1 Dhammapada , v. 323. 

2 See Bastian, Die Volker des ostlichen Asien, vol. iii. p. 354. The 
learned abbot who explained the meaning of Nirvana to Dr. Bastian 
was well versed in the old grammatical terminology. He distin- 
guishes the causal meaning, called hetumat, of the verb " va," to cause 
to blow out, from the intransitive meaning, to go out. He also dis- 
tinguishes between the verb as expressing the state of vanishing, 
" bhavasadhana" (cf. Pan. ii. 3, 37 ; iii. 4, 69), or the place of vanish- 
ing, " adhikaranasadhana " (Pan. i. 4,45). How place and act be- 
come one in the conception of Buddhists, is better seen by the four 
dhyanas, originally meditations, than the places reached by these 
meditations. 

8 See Dhammapada, v. 89, 92. 



OR "PATH OF VIRTUE." 181 

meaning should be annihilation, while most, if not all, 
would become perfectly unintelligible if we assigned 
to the word Nirvana the meaning which it has in the 
Abhidharma or the metaphysical portions of the canon. 

What does it mean, when Buddha (v. 21), calls re- 
flection the path to immortality, thoughtlessness the 
path of death ? Buddhaghosha does not hesitate to 
explain immortality by Nirvana, and that the same 
idea was connected with it in the mind of Buddha is 
clearly proved by a passage immediately following 
(v. 23) : "The wise people, meditative, steady, always 
possessed of strong powers, attain to Nirvana, the 
highest happiness." In the last verse, too, of the same 
chapter we read, " A Bhikshu who delights in reflec- 
tion, who looks with fear on thoughtlessness, will not go 
to destruction, — he is near to Nirvana." If the goal 
at which the followers of Buddha have to aim had 
been in the mind of Buddha perfect annihilation, 
" amata," t. e. immortality, would have been the very 
last word he could have chosen as its name. 

In several passages of the Dhammapada, Nirvana 
occurs in the purely ethical sense of rest, quietness, 
absence of passion ; e. g. (v. 134), " If, like a trumpet 
trampled under foot, thou utter not, then thou hast 
reached Nirvana ; anger is not known in thee." In 
v. 184 long-suffering (titiksha) is called the highest 
Nirvana. While in v. 202 we read that there is no 
happiness like rest (santi) or quietness, we read in 
the next verse that the highest happiness is Nirvana. 
In v. 285, too, " santi " seems to be synonymous with 
Nirvana, for the way that leads to " santi," or peace, 
leads also to Nirvana, as shown by Buddha. In v. 369 
it is said, " When thou hast cut off passion and hatred, 
thou wilt go to Nirvana ; " and in v. 225 the same 



182 buddha's dhammapada, 

thought is expressed, only that instead of Nirv&na we 
have the expression of unchangeable place : " The 
sages who injure nobody, and who always control 
their body, they will go to the unchangeable place, 
where, if they have gone, they will suffer no more." 

In other passages Nirvana is described as the result 
of right knowledge. Thus we read (v. 203), " Hunger 
is the worst of diseases, the body the greatest of 
pains ; if one knows this truly, that is Nirvana, the 
highest happiness." 

A similar thought seems contained in v. 374 : " As 
soon as a man has perceived the origin and destruc- 
tion of the elements of the body (khandha), he finds 
happiness and joy, which belong to those who know the 
immortal (Nirvana) ; or which is the immortality of 
those who know it, namely, the transitory character of 
the body." In v. 372 it is said that he who has knowl- 
edge and meditation is near unto Nirvana. 

Nirvana is certainly more than heaven or heavenly 
joy. " Some people are born again " (on earth), says 
Buddha, v. 126, " evil-doers go to hell ; righteous peo- 
ple go to heaven ; those who are free from all worldly 
desires enter Nirvana." The idea that those who had 
reached the haven of the gods were still liable to 
birth and death, and that there is a higher state in 
which the power of birth and death is broken, existed 
clearly at the time when the verses of the Dhamma- 
pada were composed. Thus we read (v. 238), " When 
thy impurities are blown away, and thou art free from 
guilt, thou wilt not enter again into birth and decay." 
And in the last verse the highest state that a Brah- 
mana can reach is called " the end of births," g&ti- 



There are many passages in the Dhammapada where 



OR "PATH OF VIRTUE." 183 

we expect, Nirv&na, but where, instead of it, other 
words are used. Here, no doubt, it might be said that 
something different from Nirv&na is intended, and that 
we have no right to use such words as throwing light on 
the original meaning of Nirvana. But, on the other 
hand, these words, and the passages where they occur, 
must mean something definite ; they cannot mean 
heaven or the world of the gods, for reasons stated 
above ; and if they do not mean Nirvana, they would 
have no meaning at all. There may be some doubt 
whether " para," the shore, and particularly the other 
shore, stands always for Nirvana, and whether those 
who are said to have reachd the other shore, are to 
be supposed to have entered Nirvana. It may pos- 
sibly not have that meaning in verses 384 and 385, 
but it can hardly have another in places such as vv. 
85, 86, 347, 348, 355, 414. There is less doubt, how- 
ever, that other words are used distinctly as synonyms 
of Nirvana. Such words are, the quiet place (s&ntara 
padam, vv. 368, 381) ; the changeless place (a&yutam 
sthanam, v. 225, compared with v. 226) ; the im- 
mortal place (amatam padam, v. 114) ; also simply 
that which is immortal (v. 374). In v. 411 the ex- 
pression occurs that the wise dives into the immortal. 

Though, according to Buddha, everything that has 
been made, everything that was put together, resolves 
itself again into its component parts and passes away 
(v. 277, sarve samsk&ra' anityaA), he speaks never- 
theless of that which is not made, i. e., the uncreated 
and eternal, and uses it, as it would seem, synony- 
mously with Nirvana (v. 97). Nay, he says (v. 383), 
"When you have understood the destruction of all 
that was made, you will understand that which was 
not made." This surely shows that even for Buddha a 



184 BUDDHA'S DHAMMAPADA, 

something existed which is not made, and which, there- 
fore, is imperishable and eternal. 

On considering such sayings, to which many more 
might be added, one recognizes in them a conception 
of Nirvana, altogether irreconcilable with the nihilism 
of the third part of the Buddhist Canon. It is not a 
question of more or less, but of aut — aut. Nirv&na 
cannot, in the mind of one and the same person, mean 
black and white, nothing and something. If these say- 
ings, as recorded in the Dhammapada, have maintained 
themselves, in spite of their being in open contradic- 
tion to orthodox metaphysics, the only explanation, in 
my opinion, is, that they were too firmly fixed in the 
tradition which went back to Buddha and his disciples. 
What Bishop Bigandet and others represent as the 
popular view of Nirvana, in contradistinction to that 
of the Buddhist divines, was, in my opinion, the con- 
ception of Buddha and his disciples. It represented 
the entrance of the soul into rest, a subduing of all 
wishes and desires, indifference to joy and pain, to 
good and evil, an absorption of the soul in itself, and 
a freedom from the circle of existences from birth to 
death, and from death to a new birth. This is still 
the meaning which educated people attach to it, whilst 
to the minds of the larger masses l Nirvana suggests 
rather the idea of a Mohammedan paradise or of bliss- 
ful Elysian fields. 

Only in the hands of the philosophers, to whom 
Buddhism owes its metaphysics, the Nirvana, through , 
constant negations carried to an indefinite degree, 
through the excluding and abstracting of all that is 
not Nirvana, at last became an empty Nothing, a phi- 

1 Bigandet, The Life of Gaudama, p. 320, note ; Bastian, Die Vdlger 
des Ostlichen Asien, vol. iii. p. 353. 



OR "PATH OF VIRTUE." 185 

losophical myth. There is no lack of such philosophi- 
cal myths either in the East or in the West. What has 
been fabled by philosophers of a Nothing, and of the 
terrors of a Nothing, is as much a myth as the myth 
of Eos and Tithonus. There is no more a Nothing 
than there is an Eos or a Chaos. All these are sickly, 
dying, or dead words, which, like shadows and ghosts, 
continue to haunt language, and succeed in deceiving 
for a while even the healthiest intellect. 

Even modern philosophy is not afraid to say that 
there is a Nothing. We find passages in the German 
mystics, such as Eckhart and Tauler, where the abyss 
of the Nothing is spoken of quite in a Buddhist style. 
If Buddha had said, like St. Paul, " that what no eye 
hath seen, nor ear heard, neither has it entered into 
the heart of man," was prepared in the Nirvana for 
those who had advanced to the highest degree of spir- 
itual perfection, such expressions would have been 
quite sufficient to serve as a proof to the philosophers 
by profession that this Nirvana, which could not be- 
come an object of perception by the senses, nor of con- 
ception by the categories of the understanding, — the 
an&kkhata, the ineffable, as Buddha calls it (v. 218), — 
could be nothing more nor less than the Nothing. 
Could we dare with Hegel to distinguish between a 
Nothing (Nichts) and a Not (Nichi), we might say 
that the Nirvana had, through a false dialectical pro- 
cess, been driven from a relative Nothing to an abso- 
lute Not. This was the work of the theologians and 
of the orthodox philosophers. But a religion has never 
been founded by such teaching, and a man like Bud- 
dha, who knew mankind, must have known that he 
could not, with such weapons, overturn the tyranny of 
the Brahmans. Either we must bring ourselves to bo- 



186 BUDDHA'S DHAMMAPADA, 

lieve that Buddha taught his disciples two diametri- 
cally opposed doctrines on Nirvawa, say an exoteric 
and esoteric one, or we must allow that view of Nir- 
vana to have been the original view of the founder of 
this marvelous religion, which we find recorded in the 
verses of the Dhammapada, and which corresponds 
best with the simple, clear, and practical character of 
Buddha. 

ON THE TITLE OF THE DHAMMAPADA. 

I have still to say a few words on the title of the 
Dhammapada. This title was first rendered by Go- 
gerly, " The Footsteps of Religion ; " by Spence Hardy, 
" The Paths of Religion," and this, I believe, is in the 
main a correct rendering. " Dharma," or, in P&li, 
" dhamma," has many meanings. Under one aspect, 
it means religion, in so far, namely, as religion is the 
law that is to be accepted and observed. Under an- 
other aspect " dharma " is virtue, in so far, namely, as 
virtue is the realization of that law. Thus " dharma " 
can be rendered by law, by religion, more particularly 
Buddha's religion, or by virtue. 

" Pada," again, may be rendered by footsteps, but 
its more natural rendering is path. Thus we read in 
verse 21, " appamado amatapadam," reflection is the 
path of immortality, i. e., the path that leads to immor- 
tality. Again, " pamado maMuno padam," thought- 
less is the path of death, i, e., the path that leads to 
death. The commentator explains " padam " here by 
"amatasya adhigamupaya," the means of obtaining 
immortality, i. e., Nirvawa, or simply by " upayo " and 
" magga," the way. 1 In the same manner " dhamma- 

1 If we compare verses 92 and 93, and again 254 and .255, we see 
that " padam " is used synonymously with " gati," going. 



OR "PATH OF VIRTUE." 187 

lam " would mean " the path of virtue," i. e., the 
path that leads to virtue, a very appropriate title for 
a collection of moral precepts. In this sense " dham- 
mapadam " is used in verses 44 and 45, as I have ex- 
plained in my notes to these verses. 

Gogerly, though not to be trusted in all his transla- 
tions, may generally be taken as a faithful representa- 
tive of the tradition of the Buddhists in Ceylon, and 
we may therefore take it for granted that the priests 
of that island take Dhammapada to mean, as Gogerly 
translates it, the vestiges of religion, or, from a differ- 
ent point of view, the path of virtue. 

It is well known, however, that the learned editor 
of the Dhammapada, Dr. Fausboll, proposed a differ- 
ent rendering. On the strength of verses 44 and 102, 
he translated " dhammapada " by " collection of verses 
on religion." But though "pada" may mean a verse, 
I doubt whether " pada " in the singular could ever 
mean a collection of verses. In verse 44 " padam " 
cannot mean a collection of verses, for reasons I have 
explained in my notes ; and in verse 102 we have, it 
seems to me, the best proof that, in Buddhist phrase- 
ology, " dhammapada " is not to be taken in a collect- 
ive sense, but means a law- verse, a wise saw. For 
there we read, * ' Though a man recite a hundred 
Gathas made up of senseless words, one l dhamma- 
pada,' i. e., one single word or line of the law, is bet- 
ter, which if a man hears, he becomes quiet." If the 
Buddhists wish to speak of many law-verses, they use 
the plural, dhammapad&ni. 1 Thus Buddhaghosha says, 2 
" Be it known that the G&th& consists of the Dham- 
mapadani. Therag&tM, Thengatha, and those un- 

1 " Pada " by itself forms the plural " pada," as in v. 243, fcaturo 
pada. 

2 D'Alwis, Pali Grammar, p. 61, 



188 BUDDHA'S DHAMMAPADA, 

mixed (detached) G&tha" not comprehended in any of 
the above-named SuttantaV' 

Unless, therefore, it can be proved that in Pali, 
u padam " in the singular can be used in a collective 
sense, so as to mean a collection of words or sayings, 
and this has never been done, it seems to me that we 
must retain the translation of Gogerly, " Footsteps of 
Religion," though we may with advantage make it 
more intelligible in English by rendering it " The 
Path of Virtue." The idea of representing life, and 
particularly the life of the faithful, as a path of duty 
or virtue leading to deliverance (in Sanskrit, dharma- 
patha) is very familiar to the Buddhists. The four 
great truths a of their religion consist in the recogni- 
tion, (1) that there is suffering ; (2) that there is a 
cause of that suffering ; (3) that such cause can be 
removed ; (4) that there is a way of deliverance, 
namely, the doctrine of Buddha. This way, this 
marga, is then fully described as consisting of eight 
stations, 2 and leading in the end to Nirvana. 3 The 
faithful advances on that road, • padat padam,' step by 
step, and it is therefore called pa£ipad&, lit. the step 
by step. 4 

The only way in which Dhammapadam could possi- 
bly be defended in the sense of " Collection of verses 

1 Spence Hardy, Manual, p. 496. 2 Ibid. 

3 Burnouf, Lotus, p. 520. "Ajoutons, pour terminer ce que nous 
trouvons a dire sur le mot magga, quelque commentaire qu'on en donne 
d'ailleurs, que suivant une definition rapportee par Tumour, le magga 
renferme une sous-division quel'on nomme/?atipae?a, en Sanscrit prati- 
pad. Le magga, dit Tumour, est la voie qui conduit au Nibbana, le 
padpada, litteralement ' la marche pas a pas, ou le degre,' est la vie de 
rectitude qu'on doit suivre, quand on marche dans la voie de magga." 

4 See Spence Hardy, Manual, p. 496. Should not "fcaturvidha- 
dharma-pada," mentioned on p. 497, be translated by " the fourfold 
path of the Law ? " It can hardly be the fourfold word of the Law. 






OR "PATH OF VIRTUE." 189 

of the Law," would be if we took it for an aggregate 
compound. But such aggregate compounds, in San- 
skrit at least, are possibly only with numerals, as, for 
instance, Tri-bhuvanam, the three worlds, &aturyugam, 
the four ages. 1 It might, therefore, be possible to 
form in P&li also such compounds as dasapadam, a col- 
lection of ten padas, a work consisting of ten padas, a 
11 decamerone " ; but it would in no way follow that 
we could attempt such a compound as Dhammapadam, 
in the sense of collection of law-verses. 

I find that Dr. Koppen has been too cautious to 
adopt Dr. Fausboll's rendering, while Professor Weber, 
of Berlin, not only adopts that rendering without any 
misgivings, but in his usual way blames me for my 
backwardness. 2 

In conclusion, I have to say a few words on the 
spelling of technical terms which occur in the trans- 
lation of the Dhammapada and in my introduction. It 
is very difficult to come to a decision on this subject ; 
and I have to confess that I have not been consistent 
throughout in following the rule which I think ought 
to be followed. Most of the technical terms employed 
by Buddhist writers come from Sanskrit ; and in the 
eyes of the philologist the various forms which they 
have assumed in Pali, in Burmese, in Tibetan, in 
Chinese, in Mongolian, are only so many corruptions 

1 See M. M.'s Sanskrit Grammar, § 519. 

2 " Dies ist eben auch der Sinn, der dem Titel nnseres Werkes zu 
geben ist (nicht, ' Footsteps of the Law ' wie neuer dings noch M. Miiller 
will, s. dessen Chips from a German Workshop, vol. i. p. 200). The 
fact is that on page 200 of my Chips there is no mention of the 
Dhammapada at all, while on page 220 I had simply quoted from 
Spence Hardy, and given the translation of Dhammapada, " Footsteps 
of the Law," between inverted commas. 



190 buddha's dhammapada, 

of the same original form. Everything, therefore, 
would seem to be in favor of retaining the Sanskrit 
forms throughout, and of writing, for instance, Nir- 
vana instead of the Paii Nibb&na, the Burmese Niban 
or Nepbhan, the Siamese Niruphan, the Chinese Nipan. 
The only hope, in fact, that writers on Buddhism will 
ever arrive at a uniform and generally intelligible phra- 
seology seems to lie in their agreeing to use through- 
out the Sanskrit terms in their original form, instead 
of the various local disguises and disfigurements which 
they present in Ceylon, Burmah, Siam, Tibet, China, 
and Mongolia. But against this view another consid- 
eration is sure to be urged, namely, that many Bud- 
dhist words have assumed such a strongly marked local 
or national character in the different countries and in 
the different languages in which the religion of Buddha 
has found a new home, that to translate them back 
into Sanskrit would seem as affected, nay, prove in 
certain cases as misleading, as if, in speaking of priests 
and kings, we were to speak of presbyters and cynings. 
Between the two alternatives of using the original 
Sanskrit forms or adopting their various local varieties, 
it is sometimes difficult to choose, and the rule by 
which I have been mainly guided has been to use the 
Sanskrit forms as mach as possible ; in fact, every- 
where except where it seemed affected to do so. I 
have therefore written Buddhaghosha instead of the 
P&li Buddhaghosa, because the name of that famous 
theologian, " the Voice of Buddha," seemed to lose its 
significance if turned into Buddhaghosa. But I am 
well aware what may be said on the other side. The 
name of Buddhaghosha, " Voice of Buddha," was 
given him after he had been converted from Brahman- 
ism to Buddhism, and it was given to him by people 



OR " PATH OF VIRTUE." 191 

to whom the Pali word ghosa conveyed the same 
meaning as ghosha does to us. On the other hand, I 
have retained the Pali Dhammapada instead of Dhar- 
mapada, simply because, as the title of a Pali book, it 
has become so familiar that to speak of it as Dharma- 
pada seemed like speaking of another work. W.e are 
accustomed to speak of Samanas instead of /Sramawas, 
for even in the days of Alexander's conquest, the San- 
skrit word /Sramana had assumed the prakritized or 
vulgar form which we find in Pali, and which alone 
could have been rendered by the later Greek writers 
(first by Alexander Polyhistor, 80-60, b. c.) by o-ajxa- 
vaioi. 1 As a Buddhist term, the Pali form Samana 
has so entirely supplanted that of $ramawa that, even 
in the Dhammapada (v. 388) we find an etymology 
of Samana as derived from " sam," to be quiet, and not 
from " sram," to toil. But though one might bring 
oneself to speak of Samanas, who would like to intro- 
duce Bahmawa instead of Brahmawa ? And yet this 
word, too, had so entirely been replaced by bahmawa, 
that in the Dhammapada, it is derived from a root 
" vah," to remove, to separate, to cleanse. 2 My own 
conviction is that it would be best if writers on Bud- 
dhist literature and religion were to adopt Sanskrit 
throughout as the lingua franca. For an accurate 
understanding of the original meaning of most of the 

1 See Lassen, Indische Alterthumshunde, vol. ii. p. 700, note. That 
Lassen is right in taking the "Lapfidvai, mentioned by Megasthenes, 
for Brahmanic, not for Buddhist ascetics, might be proved also by 
their dress. Dresses made of the bark of trees are not Buddhistic. 
On page lxxix., note, read Alexander Polyhistor instead of Bardesanes. 

2 See Dhammapada, v. 388 ; Bastian, Volker des ostlichen Asien, 
vol. iii. p. 41 2 : " Ein buddhistischer Monch erklarte mir, dass die 
Brahmanen ihren Namen fuhrten,als Leute, die ihre Siinden abgespult 
hatten." See also Lalita-vistara, p. 551, line 1 ; p. 553, line 7. 



192 BUDDHA'S DHAMMAPADA, 

technical terms of Buddhism a knowledge of their 
Sanskrit form is indispensable ; and nothing is lost, 
while much would be gained, if, even in the treating 
of Southern Buddhism, we were to speak of the town 
of $r&vasti instead of Savatthi in Pali, Sevet in Singha- 
lese ; of Tripitaka, " the three baskets," instead of Pit- 
akattaya in Pali, Tunpitaka in Singhalese ; of Artha- 
kath&, " commentary,' instead of Atthakath& in Pali, 
Atuwava in Singhalese ; and therefore also of Dhar- 
mapada, "the path of virtue," instead of Dhammapada. 

MAX MULLEE. 

Dustebnbbook, near Kiel, in the summer of 1869. 



193 



CHAPTER I. 

THE TWIN-VERSES. 
1. 

A LL that we are is the result of what we have 
-^- thought : it is founded on our thoughts, it is made 
up of our thoughts. If a man speaks or acts with an 
evil thought, pain follows him, as the wheel follows 
the foot of him who draws the carriage. 

2. 

All that we are is the result of what we have 

thought : it is founded on our thoughts, it is made up 

of our thoughts. If a man speaks or acts with a pure 

thought, happiness follows him, like a shadow that 

never leaves him. 

(1.) "Dharma," though clear in its meaning, is difficult to trans- 
late. It has different meanings in different systems of philosophy, 
and its peculiar application in the phraseology of Buddhism has 
been fully elucidated by Burnouf, Introduction a I'Histoire du Bud- 
dhisme, p. 41 seq. He writes : " Je traduis ordinairement ce terme par 
condition, d'autres fois par \ois, mais aucune de ces traductions n'est 
parfaitement complete ; il faut entendre par ' dharma ' ce qui fait qu'une 
chose est, ce qu'elle est, ce qui constitue sa nature propre, comme Pa 
bien montre Lassen, a l'occasion de la celebre formule, ' Ye dharma 
hetuprabhava." Etymologically the Latin for-ma expresses the same 
general idea which was expressed by " dhar-ma." See also Burnouf, 
Lotus de la bonne Loi, p. 524. Fausboll translates: "Naturae a 
mente principium ducunt," which shows that he understood " dharma " 
in the Buddhist sense. Gogerly and D'Alwis translate : " Mind pre- 
cedes action," which, if not wrong, is at all events wrongly expressed ; 
while Professor Weber's rendering, " Die Pflichten aus dem Herz 
folgern," is quite inadmissible. 
13 



194 BUDDHA'S DHAMMAPADA, 

3. 
" He abused me, he beat me, he defeated me, he 
robbed me," — hatred in those who harbor such 
thoughts will never cease. 

4. 

" He abused me, he beat me, he defeated me, he 
robbed me," — hatred in those who do not harbor 
such thoughts will cease. 

For hatred does not cease by hatred at any time : 
hatred ceases by love ; this is an old rule* 

6. 
And some do not know that we must all come to an 
end here ; but others know it, and hence their quar- 
rels cease. 

7. 
He who lives looking for pleasures only, his senses 
uncontrolled, immoderate in his enjoyments, idle, and 

(3.) On " akkofcMi," see Ka&Myana, vi. 4, 17. D'Alwis, P&li Gram- 
mar, p. 38, note. " When akkofcMi means 'abused,' it is derived from 
' kunsa/ not from ' kudha/ " 

(6.) It is necessary to render this verse freely, because literally trans- 
lated it would be unintelligible. " Pare " is explained by fools, but 
it has. that meaning by implication only. There is an opposition 
between " pare &a" and " ye k&," which I have rendered by " some " 
and " others." Yamamase, a 1 pers. plur. imp. atm., but really a Let 
in Pali. See Fausboll, Five Gdtakas, p. 38. 

(7.) "Mara" must be taken in the Buddhist sense of tempter, or 
evil spirit. See Burnouf, Introduction, p. 76 : " Mara est le demon 
de l'amour, du pe'che et de la mort; c'est le tentateur et Tennemi 
de Buddha." As to the definite meaning of " virya," see Burnouf; 
Lotus, p. 548. 

" Kusita," idle, is evidently the Pali representative of the Sanskrit 
" kusida." In Sanskrit " kusida," slothful, is supposed to be derived 
from " sad," to sit, and even in its other sense, namely, a loan, it may 
have been intended originally for a pawn, or something that lies 



195 

weak, Mara (the tempter) will certainly overcome 
him, as the wind throws down a weak tree. 

inert. In the Buddhistical Sanskrit, " kusida " is the exact counter- 
part of the Pali " kusita ; " see Burnouf, Lotus, p. 548. But suppos- 
ing " kusida " to be derived from " sad/' the d would be organic, and 
its phonetic change to t in Pali, against all rules. I do not know 
of any instance where an original Sanskrit d, between two vowels, is 
changed to t in Pali. The Pali "dandham" (Dhammap. v. 116) has 
been identified with " tandram," lazy ; but here the etymology is doubt- 
ful, and " dandra" may really be a more correct dialectic variety, z. e., 
an intensive form of a root "dram" (dru) or "dra." Anyhow the 
change here affects an initial, not a medial d, and it is supposed 
to be a change of Sanskrit t to Pali d, not vice versa. Professor 
Weber supposed "pithiyati" in v. 173, to stand for Sk. "pidhiyate," 
which is impossible. See Ka&fcayana's Grammar, iv. 21. Dr. Faus- 
boll had identified it rightly with Sk. " apistiryati." Comparisons 
such as Pali " alapu " (v. 149) with Sk. " alabu," and Pali " pabba^a " 
(v. 345) with Sk. "balba^a," prove nothing whatever as to a possible 
change of Sk. d to Pali t, for they refer to words the organic form 
of which is doubtful, and to labials instead of dentals. 

A much better instance was pointed out to me by Mr. E. C. 
Childers, namely the Pali " patu," Sk. " pradus," clearly, openly. Here 
however, the question arises, whether " patu " may not be due to 
dialectic variety, instead of phonetic decay. If " patu " is connected 
with "pratar," before, early, "pradus" would be a peculiar Sanskrit 
corruption, due to a mistaken recollection of " dus," while the Pali 
" pAtu " would have preserved the original t. 

Anyhow, we require far stronger evidence before we can admit a 
medial t in Pali as a phonetic corruption of a medial d in Sanskrit. 
We might as well treat the 0. H. G. t as a phonetic corruption of 
Gothic d. The only way to account for the Pali form " kusita " in- 
stead of " kusida," is by admitting the influence of popular etymology. 
Pali has in many case lost its etymological consciousness. It derives 
" samana " from a root " sam," " b (r) ahmana " from " bah ; " see v. 
388. Now as "sita" in Pali means cold, apathetic, but in a good 
sense, " kusita " may have been formed in Pali to express apathetic in 
a bad sense. 

Further, we must bear in mind that the Sanskrit etymology of ^ 
" kusida " from " sad," though plausible, is by no means certain. If, 
on the one hand, " kusida " might have been misinterpreted in Pali, 
and changed to " kusita," it is equally possible that " kusita," sup- 
posing this to have been the original form, was misinterpreted in 
Sanskrit, and changed there to " kusida." " Sai " is mentioned as a 



196 BUDDHA'S DHAMMAPADA, 

8. 

He who lives without looking for pleasures, his 
senses well controlled, in his enjoyments moderate, 
faithful and strong, M&ra will certainly not overcome 
him, any more than the wind throws down a rocky 
mountain. 

9. 

He who wishes to put on the sacred orange-colored 
dress without having cleansed himself from sin, who 

Sk. root in the sense of tabescere ; from it " kusita " might possibly 
be derived in the sense of idle. " Sita " in Sanskrit is what is sown, 
" sita," the furrow ; from it " kusita " might mean a bad laborer. 
These are merely conjectures, but it is certainly remarkable that 
there is an old Vedic proper name Kushita-ka, the founder of the 
Kaushitakas, whose Brahmana, the Kaushitaki-brahmana, belongs to 
the Rig- Veda. An extract from it was translated in my History of 
Ancient Sanskrit Literature, p. 407. 

Lastly, it should be mentioned, that while " kusita " is the Pali 
counterpart of "kusida," the abstract name in Pali is "kosag^a," 
Sanskrit " kausidya," and not " kosa/c&a," as it would have been if 
derived from " kusita." 

(9.) The saffron dress, of a reddish-yellow or orange color, the 
Kasava or Kashaya, is the distinctive garment of the Buddhist 
priests. The play on the words " anikkasavo kasavam," or in Sanskrit, 
" anishkashayaA kashayam," cannot be rendered in English. " Ka- 
shaya " means, impurity, " nish-kashaya," free from impurity, " anish- 
kashaya," not free from impurity, while " kashaya " is the name of the 
orange-colored or yellowish Buddhist garment. The pun is evidently 
a favorite one, for, as Fausboll shows, it occurs also in the Mahd- 
bhdrata, xii. 568 : — 

Anishkashaye kashayam ihartham iti viddhi tain, 
Dharmadhvag-anam munrfanam vrittyartham iti me matiA. 

" Know that this orange-colored garment on a man who is not free 
from impurity, serves only for the purpose of cupidity ; my opinion is, 
that it is, meant to supply the means of living to those men with 
shaven heads, who carry their virtue like a flag." 

(I read "vrittyartham," according to the Bombay edition, instead of 
" kritartham," the reading of the Calcutta edition.) 

"With regard to " sila," virtue, see Burnouf, Lotus, p. 547. 

On the exact color of the dress, see Bishop Bigandet, The Life 
or Legend of Gaudama, the Buddha of the Burmese, Rangoon, 1866, 
p. 504. 



OR "PATH OF VIRTUE." 197 

disregards also temperance and truth, is unworthy of 
the orange-colored dress. 

10. 
But he who has cleansed himself from sin, is well 
grounded in all virtues, and regards also temperance 
and truth, is indeed worthy of the orange-colored 
dress. 

11. 
They who imagine truth in untruth, and see untruth 
in truth, never arrive at truth, but follow vain desires. 

12. 

They who know truth in truth, and untruth in un- 
truth, arrive at truth, and follow true desires. 

13. 
As rain breaks through an ill-thatched house, pas- 
sion will break through an unreflecting mind. 

14. 

As rain does not break through a well-thatched 
house, passion will not break through a well-reflecting 
mind. 

15. 

The evil-doer mourns in this world, and he mourns 

(11, 12.) " Sara," which I have translated by truth, has many mean- 
ings in Sanskrit. It means the sap of a thing, then essence or real- 
ity ; in a metaphysical sense, the highest reality ; in a moral sense, 
truth. It is impossible in a translation to do more than indicate 
the meaning of such words, and in order to understand them fully, 
we must know not only their definition, but their history. 

(15.) "KilitfAa" is " klishia," a participle of "klis." It means lit- 
erally, what is spoilt. The abstract noun " klesa," evil or sin, is con- 
stantly employed in Buddhist works ; see Burnouf, Lotus, p. 443. 
Possibly the words were intended to be separated, " kamma kilittftam," 
and not to be joined like " kamma- visuddhim " in the next verse. 



198 BUDDHA'S DHAMMAPADA, 

in the next ; he mourns in both. He mourns, he suf- 
fers when he sees the evil of his own work. 

16. 
The virtuous man delights in this world, and he de- 
lights in the next ; he delights in both. He delights, 
he rejoices, when he sees the purity of his own work. 

17. 

The evil-doer suffers in this world, and he suffers in 
the next ; he suffers in both. He suffers when he 
thinks of the evil he has done ; he suffers more when 
going on the evil path. 

18. 
The virtuous man is happy in this world, and he is 
happy in the next ; he is happy in both. He is happy 
when he thinks of the good he has done ; he is still 
more, happy when going on the good path. 

19. 
The thoughtless man, even if he can recite a large 
portion (of the law), but is not a doer of it, has no 
share in the priesthood, but is like a cowherd counting 
the cows of others. 

(16.) Like "klishta" in the preceding verse, "visuddhi" in the 
present has a technical meaning. One of Buddhaghosha's most 
famous works is called "Visuddhi magga." See Burnouf, Lotus, 
p. 844. 

(17, 18.) " The evil path and the good path " are technical expres- 
sions for the descending and ascending scale of worlds through 
which all beings have to travel upward or downward, according to 
their deeds. See Bigandet, Life of Gaudama, p. 5, note 4, and p. 
449 ; Burnouf, Introduction, p. 599 ; Lotus, p. 865, 1. 7 ; 1. 11. 

(19.) In taking " sahitam " in the sense of" sawihitam " or " sawihita," 
I follow the commentator, who says, " Teptiakassa Buddava&anass " 



OB "PATH OF VIRTUE." 199 

20. 

The follower of the law, even if he can recite only 
a small portion (of the law), but, haying forsaken 
passion and hatred and foolishness, possesses true 
knowledge and serenity of mind, he, caring for nothing 
in this world, or that to come, has indeed a share in 
the priesthood. 

etam namam," but I cannot find another passage where the Tripifaka, 
or any portion of it, is called Sahita. " Samhita " in w. 100-102, has 
a different meaning. The fact that some followers of Buddha were 
allowed to learn short portions only of the sacred writings by 
heart, and to repeat them, while others had to learn a larger collec- 
tion, is shown by the story of iTakkhupala, p. 3, of Mahakala, p. 
26, etc. 

" Samanna," which I have rendered by " priesthood," expresses all 
that belongs to, or constitutes a real samana or sramana, this being 
the Buddhist name corresponding to the brahmana, or priest, of the 
orthodox Hindus. Buddha himself is frequently called the Good 
Samana. Fausboll takes the abstract word " sama/ma " as correspond- 
ing to the Sanskrit " samanya," community, hut Weber has well 
shown that it ought to be taken as representing "sramanya." He 
might have quoted the " Samarma phala sutta " of which Burnouf has 
given such interesting details in his Lotus, p. 449 seq. Fausboll also, 
in his notes on v. 332, rightly explains ' samannata ' by ' sraman- 
yata/ 

" Anupadiyano," which I have translated by " caring for nothing," 
has a technical meaning. It is the negative of the fourth Nidana, 
the so-called Upadana, which Koppen has well explained by " Anhang- 
lichkeit," taking to the world, loving the world. Koppen, Die Re- 
ligion des Buddha, p. 610. 



200 BUDDHA'S DHAMMAPADA, 



CHAPTER n. 

ON REFLECTION. 

21. 

"DEFLECTION is the path of immortality, thought- 
-*-* J lessness the path of death. Those who reflect 
do not die, those who are thoughtless are as if dead 
already. 

22. 
Having understood this clearly, those who are ad- 
vanced in reflection, delight in reflection, and rejoice 
in the knowledge of the Ariyas (the Elect). 

(21.) " Apramada," which Fausboll translates by vigilantia, Go- 
gerly by religion, expresses literally the absence of that giddiness 
or thoughtlessness which characterizes the state of mind of worldly 
people. It is the first entering into one's self, and hence all virtues 
are said to have their root in " apramada." (Ye ke&i kusala dhamma 
sabbe te appamadamulaka.) I have translated it by " reflection," 
sometimes by " earnestness." Immortality, amrita," is explained by 
Buddhaghosha as Nirvana. " Amrita " is used, no doubt, as a syn- 
onym of Nirvana, but this very fact shows how many conceptions 
entered from the very first into the Nirvana of the Buddhists. 

If it is said that those who reflect do not die, this may be under- 
stood of spiritual death. The commentator, however, takes it in 
a technical sense, that they are free from the two last stages of the 
so-called Nidanas, namely, the Garamarana (decay and death) and 
the Gati (new birth). See Koppen, Die Religion des Buddha, p. 
609. 

(22.) The Ariyas, the noble or elect, are those who have entered 
on the path that leads to Nirvana. See Koppen, p. 396. Their 
knowledge and general status is minutely described. See Koppen, 
p. 436. 



OR " PATH OF VIRTUE." 201 

23. 

These wise people, meditative, steady, always pos- 
sessed of strong powers, attain to Nirvawa, the highest 
happiness. 

24. 

If a reflecting person has roused himself, if he is 
not forgetful, if his deeds are pure, if he acts with 
consideration, if he restrains himself, and lives accord- 
ing to law, — then his glory will increase. 

25. 
By rousing himself, by reflection, by restraint and 
control, the wise man may make for himself an island 
which no flood can overwhelm. 

26. 
Fools follow after vanity, men of evil wisdom. The 
wise man possesses reflection as his best jewel. 

27. 
Follow not after vanity, nor after the enjoyment of 
love and lust ! He who reflects and meditates, ob- 
tains ample joy. 

28. 

When the learned man drives away vanity by re- 
flection, he, the wise, having reached the repose of 
wisdom, looks down upon the fools, far fronTtoil upon 
the toiling crowd, as a man who stands on a hill 
looks down on those who stand on the ground. 

29. 
Reflecting among the thoughtless, awake among the 
sleepers, the wise man advances like a racer leaving 
behind the hack. 



202 BUDDHA'S DHAMMAPADA, 

30. 

By earnestness did Maghavan (Indra) rise to the 
lordship of the gods. People praise earnestness; 
thoughtlessness is always blamed. 

31. 
A Bhikshu (mendicant) who delights in reflection, 
who looks with fear on thoughtlessness, moves about 
like fire, burning all his fetters, small or large. 

32. 

A Bhikshu (mendicant) who delights in reflection, 

who looks with fear on thoughtlessness, will not go to 

destruction — he is near to Nirv&wa. 

(31.) Instead of " saham," which Dr. Fausboll translates by 
vincens, Dr. Weber by " conquering," I think we ought to read 
" c?ahan," burning, which was evidently the reading adopted by Bud- 
dhaghosha. Mr. R. C. Childers, whom I requested to see whether 
the MS. at the India Office gives " saham " or " dahsan," writes that 
the reading " dahsan " is as clear as possible in that MS. The 
fetters are meant for the senses. See SUtra, 370. 



OB "PATH OF VIRTUE." 203 



CHAPTER in. 

THOUGHT. 



\ S a fletcher makes straight his arrow, a wise man 
-£*- makes straight his trembling and unsteady 
thought, which is difficult to keep, difficult to turn. 

34. 

As a fish taken from his watery home and thrown 
on the dry ground, our thought trembles all over in 
order to escape the dominion of Mara (the tempter). 

35. 
It is good to tame the mind, which is difficult to 
hold in and flighty, rushing wherever it listeth ; a 
tamed mind brings happiness. 



Let the wise man guard his thoughts, for they are 
difficult to perceive, very artful, and they rush where- 
ever they list: thoughts well guarded bring happi- 
ness. 

37. 

Those who bridle their mind which travels far, 
moves about alone, is without a body, and hides in the 
chamber (of the heart), will be free from the bonds of 
M&ra (the tempter). 

(34.) On Mara, see verses 7 and 8. 



204 buddha's dhammapada, 

38. 
If a man's thoughts are unsteady, if he does not 
know the true law, if his peace of mind is troubled, 
his knowledge will never be perfect. 

39. 
If a man's thoughts are not dissipated, if his mind 
is not perplexed, if he has ceased to think of good or 
evil, then there is no fear for him while he is watch- 
ful. 

(39.) Fausboll traces " anavassuta," dissipated, back to the Sanskrit 
root " syai," to become rigid ; but the participle of that root would be 
" sita," not " syuta." Professor Weber suggests that " anavassuta," 
stands for the Sanskrit " anavasruta," which he translates " unbe- 
fleckt," unspotted. If " avasruta " were the right word, it might be 
taken in the sense of " not fallen off, not fallen away," but it could 
not mean " unspotted ;" cf. " dhairyam no ssusruvat," our firmness ran 
away. I have little doubt, however, that " avassuta" represents the 
Sk. "avasruta," and is derived from the root "sru" here used in its 
technical sense, peculiar to the Buddhist literature, and so well ex- 
plained by Burnouf in his Appendix XIV. Lotus, p. 820. He 
shows that, according to Hema&andra and the Gina, alankara, asra- 
vakshaya, Pali asavasamkhaya, is counted as the sixth abhi^na, wher- 
ever six of these intellectual powers are mentioned, instead of five. 
The Chinese translate the term in their own Chinese fashion by 
stillationis finis, but Burnouf claims for it the definite sense of de- 
struction of faults or vices. He quotes from the Lalita-vistara (Adhyaya 
xxii., ed. Rajendra Lai Mittra, p. 448) the words uttered by Buddha 
when he arrived at his complete Buddha-hood : — 
sushka asrava na punaA sravanti 
" The vices are dried up, they will not flow again," 
and he shows that the Pali dictionary, the Abhidhanappadipika, ex- 
plains " asava" simply by " kama," love, pleasure of the senses. In the 
Mahaparinibbana sutta, three classes of asava are distinguished, the 
kamasava, the bhavasava, and the avi^asava. See also Burnouf, 
Lotus, p. 665. 

Burnouf takes " asrava " at once in a moral sense, but though it has 
that sense in the language of the Buddhists, it may have had a more 
material sense in the beginning. That " sru," means, to run, and is 
in fact a merely dialectic variety of " sru," is admitted by Burnouf. 
The noun " asrava," therefore, would have meant originally, a running, 



OR "PATH OF VIRTUE." 205 

40. 
Knowing that this body is (fragile) like a jar, and 
making this thought firm like a fortress, one should 

and the question is, did it mean a running, z. e. a lapsus, or did it 
mean a running, t. e. an impetuous desire, or, lastly, did it signify orig- 
inally a bodily ailment, a running sore, and assume afterwards the 
meaning of a moral ailment ? The last view might be supported by 
the fact that " asrava" in the sense of flux or sore occurs in the Atharva- 
veda, i. 2, 4, " tad asravasya bhesha^aw tadu rogam aninasat," this is 
the medicine for the sore, this destroyed the illness. But if this was 
the original meaning of the Buddhist "asava," it would be difficult to 
explain such a word as " anasava," faultless, nor could the participle 
" avasuta " or " avassuta " have taken the sense of sinful or faulty, or, 
at all events, engaged in worldly thoughts, attached to mundane in- 
terests. In order to get that meaning, we must assign to " asrava " the 
original meaning of running towards or attending to external objects 
(like " sanga, alaya," etc.) while "avasruta" would mean, carried off 
towards external objects, deprived of inward rest. This conception of 
the original purport of " a-J-sru" or " ava-sru " is confirmed by a state- 
ment of Colebrooke's, who, when treating of the Guinas, writes (Mis- 
cellaneous Essays, i. 382) : " Asrava is that which directs the embodied 
spirit (asravayati purusham) towards external objects. It is the occu- 
pation and employment (vritti or pravritti) of the senses or organs on 
sensible objects. Through the means of the senses it affects the em- 
bodied spirit with the sentiment of taction, color, smell, and taste. Or 
it is the association or connection of body with right and wrong deeds. 
It comprises all the karmas, for they (asravayanti) pervade, influence, 
and attend the doer, following him or attaching to him. It is a mis- 
direction (mithya-pra vritti) of the organs, for it is vain, a cause of 
disappointment, rendering the organs of sense and sensible objects 
subservient to fruition. Samvara is that which stops (samvriwoti) the 
course of the foregoing, or closes up the door or passage to it, and 
consists in self-command or restraint of organs internal and external, 
embracing all means of self-control and subjection of the senses, calm- 
ing and subduing them." 

For a full account of the asravas, see also Lalita-vistara, ed. Calc. 
pp. 445 and 552, where Kshinasrava is given as a name of Buddha. 

(40.) " Anivesana " has no doubt a technical meaning, and may sig- 
nify, one who has left his house, his family and friends, to become a 
monk. A monk shall not return to his home, but travel about ; he 
shall be anivesana, homeless, anagara, houseless. But I doubt 
whether this can be the meaning of " anivesana" here, as the sentence, 
let hi m be an anchorite, would come in too abruptly. I translate it 



206 BUDDHA'S DHAMMAPADA. 

attack Mara (the tempter) with the weapon of knowl- 
edge, one should watch him when conquered, and 
should never cease (from the fight). 

41. 

Before long, alas ! this body will lie on the earth, 
despised, without understanding, like a useless log. 

42. 

Whatever a hater may do to a hater, or an enemy 
to an enemy, a wrongly-directed mind will do us 
greater mischief. 

43. 

Not a mother, not a father will do so much, nor any 
other relative ; a well-directed mind will do us greater 
service. 

therefore in a more general sense, let him not return or turn away 
from the battle, let him watch Mara, even after he is vanquished, let 
him keep up a constant fight against the adversary. 



OB "PATH OF VIRTUE." 207 



CHAPTER IV. 

FLOWERS. 

44. 

WHO shall overcome this earth, and the world of 
Yama (the lord of the departed), and the world 
of the gods ? Who shall find out the plainly shown 
path of virtue, as a clever man finds out the (right) 
flower ? 

45. 

The disciple will overcome the earth, and the world 
of Yama, and the world of the gods. The disciple 
will find out the plainly shown path of virtue, as a 
clever man finds out the (right) flower. 

(44, 45.) If I differ from the translation of Fausboll and Weber it is 
because the commentary takes the two verbs, " vi^essati " and " pa- 
fcessati," to mean in the end the same thing, i. e., " sa&Mi'-karissati," he 
•will perceive. I have not ventured to take " vi^essate " for " vi^an- 
issati," but it should be remembered that the overcoming of the earth 
and of the worlds below and above, as here alluded to, is meant to be 
achieved by means of knowledge. " Pa&essati," he will gather (cf. vi-H, 
Indische Sprilche, 4560), means also, like to gather in English, he will 
perceive or understand, and the " dhammapada," or path of virtue, is 
distinctly explained by Buddhaghosha as consisting of the thirty-seven 
states or stations which lead to Bodhi. See Burnouf, Lotus, p. 430 ; 
Hardy, Manual, p. 497. " Dhammapada " might, no doubt, mean also 
" a law-verse/' but " sudesita " can hardly mean " well delivered," 
while, as applied to a path, it means " well pointed out " (v. 285.) Bud- 
dha himself is called " Marga-darsaka " and " Marga-desika " (cf. Lali- 
ta-vistara, p. 551). Nor could one well say that a man collects one sin- 
gle law-verse. Hence Fausboll naturally translates versus legis bene 
enarratos, and Weber gives " Lehrspriiche " in the plural, but theorigi- 



208 BUDDHA'S DHAMMAPADA, 

46. 

He who knows that this body is like froth, and has 
learnt that it is as unsubstantial as a mirage, will break 
the flower-pointed arrow of M&ra, and never see the 
King of Death. 

4T. 
Death carries off a man who is gathering flowers 
and whose mind is distracted, as a flood carries off a 
sleeping village. 

48. 

Death subdues a man who is gathering flowers, and 
whose mind is distracted, before he is satiated in his 
pleasures. 

49. 

As the bee collects nectar and departs without in- 

nal has " dhammapadam," in the sing-. (47, 48). There is a curious 
similarity between these verses and verses 6540-41 , and 9939 of the 
/Santi-parva : — 

Pushpaniva vifcinvantam anyatragatamanasam, 
Anavapteshu kameshu mrityur abhyeti m&navam. 

" Death approaches man like one who is gathering flowers, and whose 
mind is turned elsewhere, before his desires have been fulfilled." 

Suptam vyaghram mahaugho va mrityur adaya ga&Mati, 
Sam£invanakam evainam kamanam avitriptikam. 

" As a stream (carries off) a sleeeping tiger, death carries off this 
man who is gathering flowers, and who is not satiated in his pleas- 
ures." 

This last verse, particularly, seems to me clearly a translation from 
Pali, and the " kam " of " saw^invanakam " looks as if put in metri 
causa. 

(46.) The flower-arrows of Mara, the tempter, are borrowed from 
Kama, the Hindu god of love. For a similar expression see Lalita- 
vistara, ed. Calc. p. 40, 1. 20, " mayamariMsadrisa vidyutphenopamas 
&apala/i." It is on account of this parallel passage that I prefer to 
translate " mari&i " by mirage, and not by sunbeam, as Fausboll, or 
by solar atom, as Weber proposes. 

(48.) "Antaka," death, is given as an explanation of "Mara" in 
the Amarakosha and Abhidhanappadipika (cf. Fausboll, p. 210). 



OR "PATH OF VIRTUE." 209 

juring the flower, or its color and scent, so let the 
sage dwell on earth. 
8 50. 

Not the failures of others, not their sins of commis- 
sion or omission, but his own misdeeds and negligences 
should the sage take notice of. 

51. 

Like a beautiful flower, full of color, but without 
scent, are the fine but fruitless words of him who does 
not act accordingly. 

52. 

But, like a beautiful flower, full of color and full of 
scent, are the fine and fruitful words of him who acts 
accordingly. 

*' 53. 

As many kinds of wreaths can be made from a heap 
of flowers, so many good things may be achieved by a 
mortal if once he is born. 

54. 

The scent of flowers does not travel against the 
wind, nor (that of) sandal-wood, or of a bottle of 
Tagara oil ; but the odor of good people travels even 
against the wind ; a good man pervades every place. 

55. 
Sandal-wood or Tagara, a lotus flower, or a Vassiki, 
the scent of their excellence is peerless when their 
fragrance is out. 

(54.) "Tagara," a plant from which a scented powder is made. 
"Mallaka" or "mallika," according to Benfey, is an oil vessel. 
Hence " tagaramallika " is probably meant for a bottle holding 
aromatic powder, or oil made of the Tagara. 
14 



210 BUDDHA'S DHAMMAPADA, 

56. 

But mean is the scent that comes from Tagara and 
sandal- wood ; the odor of excellent people rises up 
to the gods as the highest. 

57. 
Of the people who possess these excellencies, who 
live without thoughtlessness, and who are emancipated 
through true knowledge, Mara, the tempter, never 
finds the way. 

58, 59. 

As on a heap of rubbish cast upon the highway the 
lily will grow full of sweet perfume and delightful, 
thus the disciple of the truly enlightened Buddha 
shines forth by his knowledge among those who are 
like rubbish, among the people that walk in darkness. 



OB "PATH OF VIRTUE." 211 



CHAPTER V. 

THE FOOL. 
60. 

LONG is the night to him who is awake ; long is a 
mile to him who is tired ; long is life to the foolish 
who do not know the true law. 

61. 

If a traveller does not meet with one who is his bet- 
ter, or his equal, let him firmly keep to his solitary 
journey ; there is no companionship with a fool. 

62. 
" These sons belong to me, and this wealth belongs 
to me; " with such thoughts a fool is tormented. He 
himself does not belong to himself; how much less 
sons and wealth ? 

63. 
The fool who knows his foolishness, is wise at least 
so far. But a fool who thinks himself wise, he is called 
a fool indeed. 

64. 
If a fool be associated with a wise man all his life, 

(60.) Life, samsara, is the constant revolution of birth and death 
which goes on forever until the knowledge of the true law or the true 
doctrine of Buddha enables a man to free himself from samsara, and 
to enter into Nirvana. See Parable xix. p. 124. 



212 BUDDHA'S DHAMMAPADA, 

he will perceive the truth as little as a spoon perceives 
the taste of soup. 

65. 

If an intelligent man be associated for one minute 
only with a wise man, he will soon perceive the truth, 
as the tongue perceives the taste of soup. 



Fools of little understanding have themselves for 
their greatest enemies, for they do evil deeds which 
must bear bitter fruits. 

67. 

That deed is not well done of which a man must re- 
pent, and the reward of which he receives crying and 
with a tearful face. 

68. 

No, that deed is well done of which a man does not 
repent, and the reward of which he receives gladly 
and cheerfully. 

69. 

As long as the evil deed done does not bear fruit, 
the fool thinks it is like honey ; but when it ripens, 
then the fool suffers grief. 

70. 
Let a fool month after month eat his food (like an 
ascetic) with the tip of a blade of Kusa grass, yet is he 
not worth the sixteenth particle of those who have 
well weighed the law. 

(70.) The commentator clearly takes "samkhata" in the sense of 
" sa7ttkhyata," not of " samskrita," for he explains it by " natadhamma 
tulitadhamma." The eating with the tip of Kusa-grass has reference 
to the fastings performed by the Brahmans, but disapproved of, ex- 
cept as a moderate discipline, by the followers of Buddha. This verse 
seems to interrupt the continuity of the other verses which treat of the 



OR "PATH OF VIETUE." 213 

71. 

An evil deed does not turn suddenly, like milk ; 
smouldering it follows the fool, like fire covered by- 
ashes. 

72. 

And when the evil deed, after it has become known, 
brings sorrow to the fool, then it destroys his bright 
lot, nay it cleaves his head. 

73. 
Let the fool wish for a false reputation, for prece- 
dence among the Bhikshus, for lordship in the con- 
vents, for worship among other people ! 

74. 
" May both the layman and he who has left the 
world think that this is done by me ; may they be sub- 
ject to me in everything which is to be done or is not 
to be done ; " thus is the mind of the fool, and his de- 
sire and pride increase. 

75. 

" One is the road that leads to wealth, another the 

reward of evil deeds, or of the slow but sure ripening of every sinful 
act. 

(71.) I am not at all certain of the simile, unless "muHrati," as 
applied to milk, can be used in the sense of changing or turning sour. 
In Manu, iv. 172, where a similar sentence occurs, the commentators 
are equally doubtful : Nadharmas &arito loke sadyaA phalati gaur iva, 
— for an evil act committed in the world does not bear fruit at once, 
like a cow ; or like the earth (in due season). 

(72.) I take " nattam " for " #napitam," the causative of " gn&t&m," 
for which in Sanskrit, too, we have the form without i, " ^naptam." 
This " grnaptam," made known, revealed, stands in opposition to the 
" Manna," covered, hid, of the preceding verse. " Sukkawisa/' which 
Fausboll explains by " suklansa," has probably a more technical and 
special meaning. 



214 BUDDHA'S DHAMMAPADA, 

road that leads to Nirvawa ; " if the Bhikshu, the dis- 
ciple of Buddha, has learnt this, he will not yearn for 
honor, he will strive after separation from the world. 

(75.) "Viveka," which in Sanskrit means chiefly understanding, 
has with the Buddhists the more technical meaning of separation, 
whether separation from the world and retirement to the solitude of 
the forest (kaya viveka), or separation from idle thoughts (&itta vi- 
veka), or the highest separation and freedom (Nirvana). 



OR "PATH OF VIRTUE." 215 



CHAPTER VI. 

THE WISE MAN. 

76. 
TF you see an intelligent man who tells you where 
-*- true treasures are to be found, who shows what is 
to be avoided, and who administers reproofs, follow that 
wise man ; it will be better, not worse, for those who 
follow him. 

77. 
Let him admonish, let him command, let him hold 
back from what is improper ! — he will be beloved of 
the good, by the bad he will be hated. 

78. 
Do not have evil-doers for friends, do not have low 
people : have virtuous people for friends, have for 
friends the best of men. 

79. 
He who drinks in the Law lives happily with a se- 
rene mind : the sage rejoices always in the Law, as 
preached by the elect. 

(78.) It is hardly possible to take "mitte kalyane " in the technical 
sense of " kalyana-mitra, " ein geistlicher Rath," a spiritual guide. 
Burnouf (Introd. p. 284) shows that in the technical sense " kalyana- 
mitra " was widely spread in the Buddhist world. 

(79.) The commentator clearly derives "piti" from" pa," to 
drink ; if it were derived from " pri," as Professor Weber seems to 



216 buddha's dhammapada, 

80. 
Well-makers lead the water (wherever they like) ; 
fletchers bend the arrow ; carpenters bend a log of 
wood ; wise people fashion themselves. 

81. 
As a solid rock is not shaken by the wind, wise 
people falter not amidst blame and praise. 

82. 
Wise people, after they have listened to the laws, 
become serene, like a deep, smooth, and still lake. 

83. 
Good people walk on whatever befall, the good do 
not murmur, longing for pleasure ; whether touched by 
happiness or sorrow wise people never appear elated or 
depressed. 

suppose, we should expect a double p. " Ariya," elect, venerable, is 
explained by the commentator as referring to Buddha and other teach- 
ers. 

(80.) See verse 33, and 145, the latter being a mere repetition of our 
verse. The " nettikas," to judge from the commentary and from the 
general purport of the verse, are not simply water-carriers, but build- 
ers of canals and aqueducts, who force the water to go where it would 
not go by itself. 

(83.) The first line is very doubtful. I have adopted, in my transla- 
tion, a suggestion of Mr. Childers, who writes, " I think it will be 
necessary to take " sabbattha " in the sense of " everywhere," or " un- 
der every condition ; " " pan&akhandadibhedesu, sabbadhammesu," 
says Buddhaghosha. I do not think we need assume that B. means 
the word " vi^ahanti " to be a synonym of " va^anti." I would rather 
take the whole sentence together as a gloss upon the word " va^anti : " 
"va^antiti arahattananena apakac?<fAanta Mandaragam vi^ahanti;" 
" va^anti " means that, ridding themselves of lust by the wisdom 
which Arhat-ship confers, they cast it away." I am inclined to think 
the line means " the righteous walk on (unmoved) in all the condi- 
tions of life." " Ninda, pasawisa, sukham, dukkhaw," are four of the 



OR "PATH OF VIRTUE." 217 

84. 
If, whether for his own sake, or for the sake of oth- 
ers, a man wishes neither for a son, nor for wealth, nor 
for lordship, and if he does not wish for his own suc- 
cess by unfair means, then he is good, wise, and vir- 
tuous. 

85. 
Few are there among men who arrive at the other 
shore ; the other people here run up and down the 
shore. 

86. 

But those who, when the Law has been well 
preached to them, follow the Law, will pass across the 
dominion of death, however difficult to overcome. 

87, 88. 
A wise man should leave the dark state (of ordinary 
life), and follow the bright state (of the Bhikshu). 
After going from his home to a homeless state, he 
should in his retirement look for enjoyment where 
there seemed to be no enjoyment. Leaving all pleas- 
ures behind, and calling nothing his own, the wise man 
should free himself from all the troubles of the mind. 



eight lokadhammas, or earthly conditions ; the remaining lokadham- 
mas are " labha, alabha, yasa, ayasa." 

In v. 245, " passata," by a man who sees, means, by a man who sees 
clearly or truly. In the same manner " vra# " and " pravra^ " may 
mean, not simply to walk, but to walk properly. 

(86.) "The other shore" is meant for Nirvana, "this shore" for 
common life. On reaching Nirvana, the dominion of death is over- 
come. The commentator supplies " taritva," having crossed, in order 
to explain the accusative " maH;udheyyam." Possibly " param es- 
santi " should here be taken as one word, in the sense of overcoming. 

(87, 88.) Leaving one's home is the same as joining the clergy, or 
becoming a mendicant, without a home or family, an " anagara," or 
anchorite. A man in that state of "viveka," or retirement (see v. 75, 



218 BUDDHA'S DHAMMAPADA, 

89. 
Those whose mind is well grounded in the elements 
of knowledge, who have given up all attachments, and 
rejoice without clinging to anything, those whose frail- 
ties have been conquered, and who are full of light, are 
free (even) in this world. 

note), sees, that where before there seemed to be no pleasure there real 
pleasure is to be found, or vice versa. A similar idea is expressed in 
verse 99. See Burnouf, Lotus, p. 474, where he speaks of " Le plaisir 
de la satisfaction, ne de la distinction." 

The five troubles or evils of the mind are passion, anger, ignorance, 
arrogance, pride. See Burnouf, Lotus, p. 360, and p. 443. As to 
" pariyodapeyya," see verse 183, and Lotus, pp. 523, 528 ; as to " sJdm- 
fcano," see Mahdbh. xii. 6568; 1240. 

(89.) The elements of knowledge are the seven " Sambodhyangas," 
on which see Burnouf, Lotus, p. 796. Khinasava, which I have trans- 
lated by, they whose frailties have been conquered, may also be taken 
in a more metaphysical sense, as explained in the note to v. 39. The 
same applies to the other terms occurring in this verse, such as " ad- 
ana, anupadaya," etc. Dr. Fausboll seems inclined to take " asava " 
in this passage, and in the other passages where it occurs, as the Pali 
representative of " asraya." But " asraya," in Buddhist phraseology, 
means rather the five organs of sense with " manas," the soul, and 
these are kept distinct from the " asavas," the inclinations, the frail- 
ties, passions, or vices. The commentary on the Abhidharma, when 
speaking of the Yoga&aras, says, " En reunissant ensemble les recep- 
tacles (asraya), les choses recues (asrita) et les supports (alambana), 
qui sont chacun compose's de six termes, on a dix-huit termes qu'on 
appelle 'Dhatus' ou contenants. La collection des six receptacles, 
ce sont les organes de la vue, de l'ouie, de l'odorat, du gout, du tou- 
cher, et le " manas " (ou Torgane du coeur), qui est le dernier. La col- 
lection des six choses recues^cjest la connaissance produite par la vue 
et par les autres sens jusqu'au ' manas ' inclusivement. La collec- 
tion des six supports, ce sont la forme et les autres attributs sensibles 
jusqu'au ' Dharma ' (la loi ou l'etre) inclusivement." See Burnouf, 
Introduction, p. 449. 

" Parinibbuta " is again a technical term, the Sanskrit " parinivrita " 
meaning, freed from all worldly fetters, like " vimukta." See Bur- 
nouf, Introduction, p. 590. 



OE "PATH OF VIRTUE." 219 



CHAPTER VIL 

THE VENERABLE. 

% 

90. 

THERE is no suffering for him who has finished his 
journey, and abandoned grief, who has freed him- 
self on all sides, and thrown off all fetters. 

91. 
They depart with their thoughts well collected, they 
are not happy in their abode ; like swans who have 
left their lake, they leave their house and home. 

92. 
They who have no riches, who live on authorized 
food, who have perceived the Void, the Unconditioned, 
the Absolute, their way is difficult to understand, like 
that of birds in the ether. 

(91.) " Satimanto," Sansk. " smritimantaA," possessed of memory, 
but here used in the technical sense of * sati," the first of the Bodh- 
yangas. See Burnouf, Introduction, p. 797. Clough translates it by 
intense thought, and this is the original meaning of " smar/' even 
in Sanskrit. See Lectures on the Science of Language, vol. ii. p. 332. 

Uyyun^anti which Buddhaghosha explains by " they exert them- 
selves," seems to me to signify in this place " they depart," i. e., they 
leave their family, and embrace an ascetic life. See note to verse 
235. 

(92.) " Sunnato" (or-ta), "animitto," and " vimokho " are three 
different aspects of Nirvana. See Burnouf, Introd. pp. 442, 462, on 
sunya. Nimitta is cause in the most general sense, what causes 



220 BUDDHA'S DHAMMAPADA, 

93. 

He whose passions are stilled, who is not absorbed 
in enjoyment, who has perceived the Void, the Uncon- 
ditioned, the Absolute, his path is difficult to under- 
stand, like that of the birds in the ether. 

94. 
The gods even envy him whose senses have been 
subdued, like horses well broken in by the driver, who 
is free from pride, and free from frailty. 

95. 
Such a one who does his duty is tolerant like the 
earth, like Indra' s bolt ; he is like a lake without mud ; 
no new births are in store for him. 

existence to continue. The commentator explains it chiefly in a 
moral sense : " ragadinimittabhavena animittam, tehi ha. vimuttan ti 
animitto vimokho," i. e. " owing to the absence of passion and other 
causes, without causation ; because freed from these causes, therefore 
it is called freedom without causation." 

The simile is intended to compare the ways of those who have 
obtained spiritual freedom to the flight of birds, it being difficult to 
understand how the birds move on without putting their feet on any- 
thing. This, at least, is the explanation of the commentator. The 
same metaphor occurs Mdhdbh. xii. 6763. "Go&ara," which has also 
the meaning of food, forms a good opposition to " bho^ana." 

(95.) Without the hints given by the commentator, we should prob- 
ably take the three similes of this verse in their natural sense, as 
illustrating the imperturbable state of an Arahanta, or venerable 
person. The earth is always represented as an emblem of patience ; 
the bolt of Indra, if taken in its technical sense, as the bolt of a 
gate, might likewise suggest the idea of firmness ; while the lake is 
a constant representative of serenity and purity. The commentator, 
however, suggests that what is meant is, that the earth, though 
flowers are cast on it, does not feel pleasure, nor the bolt of Indra 
displeasure, although less savory things are thrown upon it, and 
that in like manner a wise person is indifferent to honor or dis- 
honor 



OR " PATH OP VIRTUE." 221 

96. 

His thought is quiet, quiet are his word and deed, 
when he has obtained freedom by true knowledge, 
when he has thus become a quiet man. 

97. 

The man who is free from credulity, but knows the 
Uncreated, who has cut all ties, removed all temp- 

(96.) That this very natural threefold division, thought, word, and 
deed, the "trividha dvara" or the three doors of the Buddhists 
(Hardy, Manual, p. 494), was not peculiar to the Buddhists or un- 
known to the Brahmans, has been proved against Dr. Weber by Pro- 
fessor Koppen in his Religion des Buddha, vol. i. p. 445. He partic- 
ularly called attention to Manu, xii. 4-8 ; and he might have added 
Mahdbh. xii. 4059, 6512, 6549, 6554; xiii. 5677, etc. Dr. Weber has 
himself afterwards brought forward a passage from the Atharva- 
veda, vi. 96, 3 (" jak fcashusha manasa jak k& va&a uparima ") which, 
however, has a different meaning. A better one was quoted by him 
from the Taitt, Ar. x. 1, 12 (yan me manasa, va&a, karmana va dush- 
kritam kntam). Similar expressions have been shown to exist in the 
Zendavesta, and among the Manichseans (Lassen, Indische Alterthums- 
hunde, vol. iii. p. 414 ; see also Boehtlingk's Dictionary, s. v. kaya). 
There was no ground, therefore, for supposing that this formula had 
found its way into the Christian Liturgy from Persia, for as Professor 
Cowell remarks, Greek writers, such as Plato, employ very similar 
expressions, e. g. Prolog, p. 348, 30, npdc airav epyov ical Xoyov Kal 
diavorifia. In fact, the opposition between words and deeds occurs 
in almost every writer, from Homer downwards; and the further 
distinction between thoughts and words is clearly implied in such 
expressions as, " they say in their heart." That the idea of sin com- 
mitted by thought was not a new idea, even to the Jews, may be 
seen from Prov. xxiv. 9, " the thought of foolishness is sin." In the 
Apastamba-sutras, lately edited by Professor Biihler, we find the ex- 
pression, "atho yatkim&a manasa vaka fcakshusha va samkalpayam 
dhyayaty ahabhi vipasyati va tathaiva tad bhavatityupadisanti; " They 
say that whatever a Brahman intending with his mind, voice, or eye, 
thinks, says, or looks, that will be. This is clearly a very different 
division, and it is the same which is intended in the passage from 
the Atharva-veda, quoted above. In the mischief done by the eye, 
we have the first indication of the evil eye. Mahdbh. xii. 3417. 
See Dhammapada, w. 231-234. 



222 BUDDHA'S DHAMMAPADA, 

tations, renounced all desires, he is the greatest of 
men. 

98. 

In a hamlet or in a forest, in the deep water or on 
the dry land, wherever venerable persons (Arahanta) 
dwell, that place is delightful. 

99. 
Forests are delightful ; where the world finds no 
delight, there the passionless will find delight, for they 
look not for pleasures. 



OB "PATH OF VIRTUE." 223 



CHAPTER VHI. 

THE THOUSANDS. 
100. 

T71VEN though a speech be a thousand (of words), 
-" but made up of senseless words, one word of sense 
is better, which if a man hears, he becomes quiet. 

101. 

Even though a Gatha (poem) be a thousand (of 
words), but made up of senseless words, one word of a 
Gatha is better, which if a man hears, he becomes quiet. 

102. 
Though a man recite a hundred Gathas made up of 
senseless words, one word of the Law is better, which 
if a man hears, he becomes quiet. 

103. 

If one man conquer in battle a thousand times thou- 
sand men, and if another conquer himself, he is the 
greatest of conquerors. 

104, 105. 

One's own self conquered is better than all other 
people ; not even a god, a Gandharva, not M&ra with 

(100.) " Y&ki" is to be taken as a nom. sing, fern., instead of the 
Sk. " vak." 



224 BUDDHA'S DHAMMAPADA, 

Brahman could change into defeat the victory of a 
man who has vanquished himself, and always lives 
under restraint. 

106. 

If a man for a hundred years sacrifice month after 
month with a thousand, and if he but for one moment 
pay homage to a man whose soul is grounded (in true 
knowledge), better is that homage than a sacrifice for 
a hundred years. 

107. 

If a man for a hundred years worship Agni (fire) in 
the forest, and if he but for one moment pay homage 
to a man whose soul is grounded (in true knowledge), 
better is that homage than sacrifice for a hundred 
years. 

(104.) " Critam," according to the commentator, stands for gito 
(lingavipallaso, i. e. viparyasa) ; " have " is an interjection. 

The Devas (gods), Gandharvas (fairies), and other fanciful beings 
of the Brahmanic religion, such as the Nagas, Sarpas, Garuc?as, etc., 
were allowed to continue in the traditional language of the people 
who had embraced Buddhism. See the pertinent remarks of Bur- 
nouf, Introduction, p. 134 seq., 184. On Mara, the tempter, see y. 7. 
Sastram Aiyar, On the Gaina Religion, p. xx., says : " Moreover 
as it is declared in the Gaina Vedas that all the gods worshipped 
by the various Hindu sects, namely, Siva,, Brahma, Vishnu, Gana- 
pati, Subramaniyan, and others, were devoted adherents of the above- 
mentioned Tirthankaras, the Crainas therefore do not consider them 
as unworthy of their worship ; but as they are servants of Arugan, 
they consider them to be deities of their system, and accordingly 
perform certain p%as in honor of them, and worship them also." 
The case is more doubtful with orthodox Buddhists. " Orthodox 
Buddhists," as Mr. D'Alwis writes (Attanagalu-vansa, p. 55) " do not 
consider the worship of the Devas as being sanctioned by him who 
disclaimed for himself and all the Devas any power over man's soul. 
Yet the Buddhists are everywhere idol-worshippers. Buddhism, how- 
ever, acknowledges the existence of some of the Hindu deities, and 
from the various friendly offices which those Devas are said to have 
rendered to Gotama, Buddhists evince a respect for their idols." 
See also Parables, p. 162. 



225 

108. 
Whatever a man sacrifice in this world as an offer- 
ing or as an oblation for a whole year in order to gain 
merit, the whole of it is not worth a quarter ; rever- 
ence shown to the righteous is better. 

109. 
He who always greets and constantly reveres the 
aged, four things will increase to him, namely life, 
beauty, happiness, power. 

110. 

But he who lives a hundred years, vicious and un- 
restrained, a life of one day is better if a man is vir- 
tuous and reflecting. 

And he who lives a hundred years, ignorant and 
unrestrained, a life of one day is better, if a man is 
wise and reflecting. 

112. 

And he who lives a hundred years, idle and weak, 
a life of one day is better, if a man has attained firm 
strength. 

(109.) Dr. Fausboll, in a most important note, called attention to 
the fact that the same verse, with slight variations, occurs in Manu. 
We there read, ii. 121 : — 

Abhivadanasilaya nityawi vriddhopasevinaA, 
■Katvari sampravardhante : ayur vidya yaso balam. 

Here the four things are, life, knowledge, glory, power. 

In the Apastamba-sutras, 1, 2, 15, the reward promised for the 
same virtue is " svargam ayus ka," heaven and long life. It seems, 
therefore, as if the original idea of this verse came from the Brah- 
mans, and was afterwards adopted by the Buddhists. How largely 
it spread is shown by Dr. Fausboll from the Asiatic Researches, vol. 
xx. p. 259, where the same verse of the Dhammapada is mentioned 
as being in use among the Buddhists of Siam. 

(112.) On "kusito" and " hinaviriyo," see note to v. 7. 
15 



226 

113. 

And he who lives a hundred years, not seeing be- 
ginning and end, a life of one day is better if a man 
sees beginning and end. 

114. 

And he who lives a hundred years, not seeing the 
immortal place, a life of one day is better if a man 
sees the immortal place. 

115. 

And he who lives a hundred years, not seeing the 
highest law, a life of one day is better, if a man sees 
the highest law. 



OR "PATH OF VIRTUE." 227 






CHAPTER IX. 

EVIL. 
116. 

TF a man would hasten towards the good, he should 
-*- keep his thought away from evil ; if a man does 
what is good slothfully, his mind delights in evil. 

117. 
If a man commits a sin, let him not do it again J 
let him not delight in sin : pain is the outcome of evil. 

118. 
If a man does what is good, let him do it again ; let 
him delight in it : happiness is the outcome of good. 

119. 
Even an evil-doer sees happiness as long as his evil 
deed has not ripened ; but when his evil deed has ri- 
pened, then does the evil-doer see evil. 

120. 
Even a good man sees evil days, as long as his good 
deed has not ripened ; but when his good deed has ri- 
pened, then does the good man see happy days. 

121. 

Let no man think lightly of evil, saying in his heart, 
It will not come near unto me. Even by the falling 



228 BUDDHA'S DHAMMAPADA, 

of water-drops a water-pot is filled ; the fool becomes 
full of evil, even if he gathers it little by little. 

122. 
Let no man think lightly of good, saying in his 
heart, It will not benefit me. Even by the falling of 
water-drops a water-pot is filled; the wise man be- 
comes full of good, even if he gather it little by little. 

123. 
Let a man avoid evil deeds, as a merchant if he has 
few companions and carries much wealth avoids a dan- 
gerous road ; as a man who loves life avoids poison. 

124. 
He who has no wound on his hand, may touch poi- 
son with his hand ; poison does not affect one who has 
no wound ; nor is there evil for one who does not com- 
mit evil. 

125. 

If a man offend a harmless, pure, and innocent per- 
son, the evil falls back upon that fool, like light dust 
thrown up against the wind. 

126. 
Some people are born again ; evil-doers go to hell ; 
righteous people go to heaven ; those who are free from 
all worldly desires enter Nirvana. 

(124.) This verse, taken in connection with what precedes, can only- 
mean that no one suffers evil but he who has committed evil, or 
sin ; an idea the very opposite of that pronounced in Luke xiii. 1-5. 

(125.) Cf. Indische Sprilche, 1582; Kathasaritsagara, 49, 222. 

(126.) For a description of hell and its long, yet not endless 
sufferings, see Parables, p. 132. The pleasures of heaven, too, are 
frequently described in these Parables and elsewhere. Buddha, him- 



OR " PATH OF VIRTUE." 229 

127. 

Not in the sky, not in the midst of the sea, not if 
we enter into the clefts of the mountains, is there 
known a spot in the whole world where a man might 
be freed from an evil deed. 

128. 
Not in the sky, not in the midst of the sea, not if 
we enter into the clefts of the mountains, is there 
known a spot in the whole world where death could 
not overcome (the mortal). 

self, enjoyed these pleasures of heaven, before he was born for the 
last time. It is probably when good and evil deeds are equally 
balanced, that men are born again as human beings ; this, at least, 
is the opinion of the Gainas. Cf. Ckintdmam, ed. H. Bower, In trod, 
p. xv. 



230 BUDDHA'S DHAMMAPADA, 



A 



CHAPTER X. 

PUNISHMENT. 
129. 

LL men tremble at punishment, all men fear 
death ; remember that you are like unto them, 
and do not kill nor cause slaughter. 

130. 
All men tremble at punishment, all men love life ; 
remember that thou art like unto them, and do not 
kill, nor cause slaughter. 

131. 

He who for his own sake punishes or kills beings 
longing for happiness, will not find happiness after 
death. 

(129.) One feels tempted, no doubt, to take "upama" in the sense 
of the nearest (der Nachste), the neighbor, and to translate, having 
made oneself one's neighbor, i. e. " loving one's neighbor as oneself." 
But as " upamam," with a short a, is the correct accusative of "upa- 
ma," we must translate " having made oneself the likeness, the image x)f 
others," " having placed oneself in the place of others." This is an 
expression which occurs frequently in Sanskrit (cf. Hitopadesa, i. 11). 
Prana yathatmano sbhishia bhfitanam api te tatbS, 
Atmaupamyena bhflteshu dayam kurvanti sadhavaA. 

" As life is dear to oneself, it is dear also to other living beings : by 
comparing oneself with others, good people bestow pity on all beings." 

See also Hit. i. 12 ; Ram. v. 23, 5, " atmanam upamam kritva sveshu 
dareshu ramyatam," " Making oneself a likeness, i. e., putting oneself 
in the position of other people, it is right to love none but one's own 
wife." Dr. Fausboll has called attention to similar passages in the 
Mahdbhdrata, xiii. 5569 seq. 

(131.) Dr. Fausboll points out the striking similarity between this 
verse and two verses occurring in Mann and the MahAbharata : — 



231 

132. 

He who for his own sake does not punish or kill 
beings longing for happiness, will find happiness after 
death. 

133. 

Do not speak harshly to anybody ; those who are 
spoken to will answer thee in the same way. Angry 
speech is painful, blows for blow T s will touch thee. 

134. 

If, like a trumpet trampled under foot, thou utter 
not, then thou hast reached Nirvana ; anger is not 
known in thee. 

135. 

As a cowherd with his staff gathers his cows into 
the stable, so do Age and Death gather the life of 
man. 

136. 

A fool does not know when he commits his evil 
deeds : but the wicked man burns by his own deeds, 
as if burnt by fire. 

Manu, v. 45 : — 

Yo shfrnsakani bhGtani hinasty atmasukhe^AayS 
Sa g-ivaww ka mritas taiva na kvafcit sukham edhate. 

Mahabh. xiii. 5568 : — 

Ahimsakani bhtitani danrfena vinihanti ya/i 

Atniana/j sukham ikkh&n sa pretya naiva sukhi bhavet. 

If it were not for " ahiwjsakani," in which Manu and the Mahabharata 
agree, I should say that the verses in both were Sanskrit modifications 
of the Pali original. The verse in the Mahabharata presupposes the 
verse of the Dhammapada. 

(133.) See Mahabharata, xii. 4056. 

(136.) The metaphor of" burning " for " suffering " is very common 
in Buddhist literature. Everything burns, t. e., "everything suffers/' 
was one of the first experiences of Buddha himself. See v. 146. 



232 buddha's dhammapada, 

137. 

He who inflicts pain on innocent and harmless per- 
sons, will soon come to one of these ten states : 

138. 
He will have cruel suffering, loss, injury of the 
body, heavy affliction, or loss of mind, 

139. 
Or a misfortune of the king, or a fearful accusation, 
or loss of relations, or destruction of treasures, 

140. 
Or lightning-fire will burn his houses ; and when 
his body is destroyed, the fool will go to hell. 

141. 

Not nakedness, not platted hair, not dirt, not fast- 
ing, or lying on the earth, not rubbing with dust, not 
sitting motionless, can purify a mortal who has not 
overcome desires. 

(138.) " Cruel suffering " is explained by " sisaroga," headache, etc. 
" Loss " is taken for loss of money. " Injury of the body " is held to be 
the cutting off of the arm, and other limbs. " Heavy afflictions " are, 
again, various kinds of diseases. 

(139.) " Misfortune of the king " may mean, a misfortune that hap- 
pened to the king, defeat by an enemy, and therefore conquest of the 
country. " Upasarga " means accident, misfortune. Dr. Fausboll 
translates " ra^ato va upassaggam " by " fulgentis (lunae) defectio- 
nem ; " Dr. Weber, by "Bestrafung vom Konig." " Abbhakkhanam," 
Sansk. " abhyakhyanam," is a heavy accusation for high treason, or 
similar offenses. 

The " destruction of pleasures or treasures " is explained by gold 
being changed to coals (see Parables, p. 98), pearls to cotton-seed, 
corn to potsherds, and by men and cattle becoming blind, lame, etc. 

(141.) Dr. Fausboll has pointed out that the same or a very similar 
verse occurs in a legend taken from the Divyavadana, and translated 






233 

142. 
He who, though dressed in fine apparel, exercises 
tranquillity, is quiet, subdued, restrained, chaste, and 
has ceased to find fault with all other beings, he in- 
deed is a Brahina/ia, an ascetic (/Sramawa), a friar 
(bhikshu). 

by Burnouf (Introduction, p. 313 seq.). Burnouf translates the verse : 
" Ce n'est ni la coutume de marcher nu, ni les cheveux nattes, ni 
l'usage d'argile, ni le choix des diverses especes d' aliments, ni l'habi- 
tude de coucher sur la terre nue, ni la poussiere, ni la malproprete, ni 
l'attention a rair l'abri d'un toit, qui sont capables de dissiper le trouble 
dans lequel nous jettent les desirs non-satisfaits ; mais qu'un homme, 
maitre de ses sens, calme, recueilli, chaste, evitant de faire du mal a 
aucune creature, accomplisse la Loi, et il sera, quoique pare" d'orne- 
ments, un Brahmane, un Cramana, un Religieux." 

Walking naked, and the other things mentioned in our verse, are 
outward signs of a saintly life, and these Buddha rejects because they 
do not calm the passions. Nakedness he seems to have rejected on 
other grounds too, if we may judge from the SumagadM-avadana : 
"A number of naked friars were assembled in the house of the daugh- 
ter of Anatha-pinofika. She called her daughter-iu-law, Sumagadha, 
and said, ' Go and see those highly respectable persons/ Sumagadha, 
expecting to see some of the saints, like &ariputra, Maudgalyayana, 
and others, ran out full of joy. But when she saw these friars with 
their hair like pigeon wings, covered by nothing but dirt, offensive, 
and looking like demons, she became sad. ' Why ai*e you sad 1 ' said 
her mother-in-law. Sumagadha replied, ' O, mother, if these are 
saints, what must sinners be like ? ' " 

Burnouf (Introduction, p. 312) supposed that the Camas only, and 
not the Buddhists, allowed nakedness. But the Crainas, too, do not 
allow it universally. They are divided into two parties, the £Vetam- 
baras and Digambaras. The &vetambaras, clad in white, are the 
followers of Parsvanatha, and wear clothes. The Digambaras, i. e. 
sky-clad, disrobed, are followers of Mahavira, and resident chiefly in 
Southern India. At present they, too, wear clothing, but not when 
eating. See Sdstram Aiyar, p. xxi. 

The " gata," or the hair platted and gathered up in a knot, was a 
sign of a A^aiva ascetic. The sitting motionless is one of the postures 
assumed by ascetics. Clough explains " ukkurika " as the act of sitting 
on the heels ; Wilson gives for " utkatokasana," " sitting on the hams." 
See Fausboll, note on verse 140. 

(142.) As to " dancfanidhana," see Mahdbh. xii. 6559. 



234 BUDDHA'S DHAMMAPADA, 

143. 
Is there in this world any man so restrained by hu- 
mility that he does not mind reproof, as a well-trained 
horse the whip ? 

144. 

Like a well-trained horse when touched by the 
whip, be ye active and lively, and by faith, by virtue, 
by energy, by meditation, by discernment of the law 
you will overcome this great pain (of reproof), per- 
fect in knowledge and in behavior, and never for- 
getful. 

145. 

Well- makers lead the water (wherever they like), 
fletchers bend the arrow ; carpenters break a log of 
wood ; wise people fashion themselves. 

(143, 144.) I am very doubtful as to the real meaning of these 
verses. I think their object is to show how reproof or punishment 
should be borne. I therefore take " bhadra assa " in the sense of a 
well-broken or well-trained, not in the sense of a spirited horse. 
"Hri," no doubt, means generally "shame," but it also means "hu- 
mility," or " modesty." However, I give my translation as conjec- 
tural only, for there are several passages in the commentary which 
I do not understand. 

(145.) The same as verse 80. 



OB " PATH OF V1BTUE.' , 235 



CHAPTER XI. 

OLD AGE. 
146. 

TTOW is there laughter, how is there joy, as this 
-*--*- world is always burning ? Why do you not seek 
a light, ye who are surrounded by darkness ? 

147. 

Look at this dressed-up lump, covered with wounds, 
joined together, sickly, full of many thoughts, which 
has no strength, no hold ! 

148. 

This body is wasted, full of sickness, and frail ; this 
heap of corruption breaks to pieces, the life in it is 
death. 

149. 

Those white bones, like gourds thrown away in the 
autumn, what pleasure is there in looking at them ! 

150. 

After a frame has been made of the bones, it is 
covered with flesh and blood, and there dwell in it old 
age and death, pride and deceit. 

(146.) Dr. Fausboll translates " semper exardescit recordatio; " Dr. 
Weber, " da's doch bestandig Kummer giebt." The commentator 
explains, " as this abode is always lighted by passion and the other 
fires." Cf. Hardy, Manual, p. 495. 

(150.) The expression " ma??isalohitalepanam " is curiously like the 



236 budddha's dhammapada, 

151. 

The brilliant chariots of kings are destroyed, the 
body also approaches destruction, but the virtues of 
good people never approach destruction, thus do the 
good say to the good. 

152. 
A man who has learnt little, grows old like an ox ; 
his flesh grows, but his knowledge does not grow. 

153, 154. 
Without ceasing shall I run through a course of 
many births, looking for the maker of this tabernacle, 
— and painful is birth again and again. But now, 
maker of the tabernacle, thou hast been seen; thou 
shalt not make up this tabernacle again. All thy raf- 
ters are broken, thy ridge-pole is sundered; the mind, 
being sundered, has attained to the extinction of all 
desires. 

expression used in Manu, vi. 76, " marasasomtalpanam," and in 
several passages of the Mahdbhdrata, xii. 12053, 12462, as pointed 
out by Dr. Fausboll. 

(153, 154.) These two verses are famous among Buddhists, for 
they are the words which the founder of Buddhism is supposed to 
have uttered at the moment he attained to Buddhahood. See 
Spence Hardy, Manual, p. 180. According to the Lalita-vistara, the 
words uttered on that solemn occasion were those quoted in the 
note to verse 39. Though the purport of both is the same, the 
tradition preserved by the Southern Buddhists shows greater vigor 
than that of the North. 

" The maker of the tabernacle " is explained as a poetical expres- 
sion for the cause of new births, at least according to the views of 
Buddha's followers, whatever his own views may have been. Bud- 
dha had conquered Mara, the representative of worldly temptations, 
the father of worldly desires, and as desires (tamha) are, by means 
of "upadana" and "bhava," the cause of " g&ti," or birth, the 
destruction of desires and the defeat of Mara are really the same 
thing, though expressed differently in the philosophical and legendary 



237 

155. 

Men who have not observed proper discipline, and 
have not gained wealth in their youth, they perish like 
old herons in a lake without fish. 

156. 
Men who have not observed proper discipline, and 
have not gained wealth in their youth ; they lie like 
broken bows, sighing after the past. 

language of the Buddhists. Tanha, thirst or desire, is mentioned 
as serving in the army of Mara. Lotus, p. 443. There are some 
valuable remarks of Mr. D'Alwis on these verses in the Attanu- 
galuvansa, p. cxxviii. This learned scholar points out a certain simi- 
larity in the metaphors used by Buddha, and some verses in Manu, 
vi. 76, 77. See also Mahdbh. xii. 12463-4. Mr. D'Alwis' quota- 
tion, however, from Panini, iii. 2, 112, proves in no way that " sand- 
havissan," or any other future can, if standing by itself, be used in 
a past sense. Panini speaks of " bhutaanadyatana," and he restricts 
the use of the future in a past sense to cases where the future fol- 
lows verbs expressive of recollection, etc. 

(155^) On "^Aayanti," i. e. " kshayanti," see Dr. Bollensen's 
learned remarks, Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenl. Gesellschaft, xviii. 
834, and Boehtlingk-Roth, s. v. " ksha. 



238 



CHAPTER XII. 

SELF. 
157. 

TF a man hold himself dear, let him watch himself 
-*- carefully ; during one at least out of the three 
watches a wise man should be watchful. 

158. 
Let each man first direct himself to what is proper, 
then let him teach others ; thus a wise man will not 
suffer. 

159. 

Let each man make himself as he teaches others to 
be ; he who is well subdued may subdue (others) ; 
one's own self is difficult to subdue. 

160. 
Self is the lord of self, who else could be the lord ? 
With self well-subdued, a man finds a lord such as few 
can find. 

161. 

The evil done by oneself, self-begotten, self-bred, 
crushes the wicked, as a diamond breaks a precious 
stone. 

(157.) The three watches of the night are meant for the three 
stages of life. 



OR "PATH OF VIRTUE." 239 

162. 
He whose wickedness is very great brings himself 
down to that state where his enemy wishes him to be, 
as a creeper does with the tree which it surrounds. 

163. 
Bad deeds, and deeds hurtful to ourselves, are easy 
to do ; what is beneficial and good, that is very diffi- 
cult to do. 

164. 

The wicked man who scorns the rule of the vener- 
able (Arahat), of the elect (Ariya), of the virtuous, 
and follows false doctrine, he bears fruit to his own 
destruction, like the fruits of the Kanaka reed. 

165. 
By oneself the evil is done, by oneself one suffers ; 
by oneself evil is left undone, by oneself one is puri- 
fied. Purity and impurity belong to oneself, no one 
can purify another. 

166. 

Let no one forget his own duty for the sake of 

(164.) The reed either dies after it has borne fruit or is cut down 
for the sake of its fruit. 

" ~Ditthi" literally view, is used even by itself, like the Greek 
"hairesis" in the sense of heresy (see Burnouf, Lotus, p. 444). In 
other places a distinction is made between " mikhkMitthi " (vv. 167, 
316) and " sammadiftM " (v. 319). If "arahatam ariyanawi" are 
used in their technical sense, we should translate "the reverend 
Arhats," — " Arhat " being the highest degree of the four orders of 
Ariyas, namely, Srotaapanna, Sakridagamin, Anagamin, and Arhat. 
See note to v. 178. 

(166.) "Attha," lit. "object," must be taken in a moral sense, as 
" duty " rather than as " advantage." The story which Buddha- 
ghosha tells of the " Thera Attadattha " gives a clew to the origin 



240 BUDDHA'S DHAMMAPADA, 

another's, however great ; let a man, after he has dis- 
cerned his own duty, be always attentive to his duty. 

of some of his parables, which seem to have been invented to suit 
the text of the Dhammapada rather than vice versa. A similar case 
occurs in the commentary to verse 227. 



OR "PATH OF VIRTUE." 241 



D 



CHAPTER XIII. 

THE WORLD. 
167. 

O not follow the evil law ! Do not live on in 
thoughtlessness ! Do not follow false doctrine ! 
Be not a friend of the world. 

168. 
Rouse thyself! do not be idle ! Follow the law of 
virtue ! The virtuous lives happily in this world and 
in the next. 

169. 

Follow the law of virtue ; do not follow that of sin. 
The virtuous lives happily in this world and in the 
next. 

170. 

Look upon the world as a bubble, look upon it as a 
mirage : the king of death does not see him who thus 
looks down upon the world. 

171. 
Come, look at this glittering world, like unto a 
royal chariot ; the foolish are immersed in it, but the 
wise do not cling to it. 

172. 

He who formerly was reckless and afterwards be- 
came sober, brightens up this world, like the moon 
when freed from clouds. 

1G 



242 BUDDHA'S DHAMMAPADA, 

173. 

He whose evil deeds are covered by good deeds, 
brightens up this world, like the moon when freed 
from clouds. 

174. 

This world is dark, few only can see here ; a few 
only go to heaven, like birds escaped from the net. 

175. 

The swans go on the path of the sun, they go 
through the ether by means of their miraculous 
power ; the wise are led out of this world, when they 
have conquered M&ra and his train. 

176. 

If a man has transgressed one law, and speaks lies, 
and scoffs at another world, there is no evil he will 
not do. 

177. 
The uncharitable do not go to the world of the gods ; 
fools only do not praise liberality ; a wise man rejoices 
in liberality, and through it becomes blessed in the 
other world. 

178. 

Better than sovereignty over the earth, better than 
going to heaven, better than lordship over all worlds, 
is the reward of the first step in holiness. 

(175.) "Hawisa" may be meant for the bird, whether flamingo, or 
swan, or ibis (see Hardy, Manual, p. 17), but it may also, I believe, 
be taken in the sense of saint. As to " iddhi," magical power, i. e. 
" riddhi," see Burnouf, Lotus, p. 310 ; Spence Hardy, Manual, pp. 498 
and 504 ; Legends, pp. 55, 177. See note to verse 254. 

(178.) " Sotapatti," the technical term for the first step in the path 
that leads to Nirvana. • There are four such steps, or stages, and on 
entering each, a man receives a new title : — 



OR " PATH OF VIRTUE." 243 

1. The'^rota apanna," lit. he who has got into the stream. A 
man may have seven more births before he reaches the other shore, 
i. e., "Nirvana." 

2. " Sakrida gamin," lit. he who comes back once, so called be- 
cause, after having entered this stage, a man is born only once more 
among men or gods. 

3. "Anagamin," lit. he who does not come back, so called be- 
cause, after this stage, a man cannot be born again in a lower 
world, but can only enter a Brahman world before he reaches 
Nirvana. 

4. "Arhat," the venerable, the perfect, who has reached the 
highest stage that can be reached, and from which Nirvana is per- 
ceived (sukkhavipassana, Lotus, p. 849). See Hardy, "Eastern Mon- 
orchism, p. 280; Burnouf, Introduction, p. 209; Koppen, p. 398; 
D'Alwis, Attanugaluvansa, p. cxxiv. 



244 BUDDHA'S DHAMMAPADA, 



CHAPTER XIV. 

THE AWAKENED (BUDDHA). 
179. 

TTE whose conquest is not conquered again, whose 
-*--*- conquest no one in this world escapes, by what 
path can you lead him, the Awakened, the Omniscient, 
into a wrong path ? 

180. 

He whom no desire with its snares and poisons can 
lead astray, by what path can you lead him, the Awa- 
kened, the Omniscient, into a wrong path ? 

181. 
Even the gods envy those who are awakened and 
not forgetful, who are given to meditation, who are 
wise, and who delight in the repose of retirement 
(from the world). 

(179, 180.) These two verses, though their general meaning seems 
clear, contain many difficulties which I do not at all pretend to solve. 
" Buddha," the Awakened, is to be taken as an appellative rather than 
as the proper name of the " Buddha." It means, anybody who has 
arrived at complete knowledge. " Anantago&aram " I take in the 
sense of, possessed of unlimited knowledge. " Apadam," which Dr. 
Fausboll takes as an epithet of Buddha and translates by non inves- 
tigabilis, I take as an accusative governed by " nessatha," and in the 
sense of wrong place (uppatha, v. 309, p. 396, 1. 2) or sin. 

The second line of verse 179 is most difficult. The commentator 
seems to take it in the sense of " in whose conquest nothing is want- 
ing," " who has conquered all sins and all passions." In that case 
we should have to supply " kileso " (masc.) or " rago," or take " koki " 
in the sense of any enemy. Cf. v. 105. 



OB " PATH OF VIRTUE.' ' 245 

182. 
Hard is the conception of men, hard is the life of 
mortals, hard is the hearing of the True Law, hard is 
the birth of the Awakened (the attainment of Bud- 
dhahood). 

183. 

Not to commit any sin, to do good, and to purify 
one's mind, that is the teaching of the Awakened. 

184. 

The Awakened call patience the highest penance, 
long-suffering the highest Nirva/ia ; for he is not an 
anchorite (Pravra^ita) who strikes others, he is not an 
ascetic (*Srama/ia) who insults others. 

185. 

Not to blame, not to strike, to live restrained under 
the law, to be moderate in eating, to sleep and eat 

(183.) This verse is again one of the most solemn verses among 
the Buddhists. According to Csoma de Koros, it ought to follow 
the famous Aryi stanza, "Ye dhamma" (Lotus, p. 522), and serve 
as its complement. But though this may be the case in Tibet, it 
was not so originally. Burnouf has fully discussed the metre and 
meaning of our verse on pp. 527, 528 of his Lotus. He prefers 
" sa&ittaparidamanam," which Csoma translated by " the mind must 
be brought under entire subjection" (sva/tittaparidamanam), and 
the late Dr. Mill by " proprii intellectus subjugatio." But his own 
MS. of the "Mahapadhana sutta" gave likewise " saHttapariyodapa- 
nam," and this is no doubt the correct reading. See D'Alwis, At- 
tanugaluvansa, p. cxxix. We found " pariyodappeya " in verse 88, in 
the sense of freeing oneself from the troubles of thought. The only 
question is whether the root " da," with the prepositions " pari " and 
" ava," should be taken in the sense of cleansing oneself from, or 
cutting oneself out from. I prefer the former conception, the same 
which in Buddhist literature has given rise to the name Avadana, a 
legend, originally a pure and virtuous act, and apioTeia, afterwards a 
sacred story, and possibly a story the hearing of which purines the 
mind. See Boehtlingk-Roth, s. v. " avadana." 



246 BUDDHA'S DHAMMAPADA, 

alone, and to dwell on the highest thoughts, — this is 
the teaching of the Awakened. 

186. 
There is no satisfying lusts, even by a shower of 
gold pieces ; he who knows that lusts have a short 
taste and cause pain, he is wise. 

187. 
Even in heavenly pleasures he finds no satisfaction, 
the disciple who is fully awakened delights only in the 
destruction of all desires. 

188. 
Men, driven by fear, go to many a refuge, to moun- 
tains and forests, to groves and sacred trees. 

189. 
But that is not a safe refuge, that is not the best 
refuge ; a man is not delivered from all pains after hav- 
ing gone to that refuge. 

(185.) " Patimokkhe," under the law, i. e., according to the law, the 
law which leads to " Moksha," or freedom. " Pratimoksha " is the 
title of the^ldest collection of the moral laws of the Buddhists 
(Burnouf, Introduction, p. 300 ; Bigandet, The Life of Guadama, p. 
439), and as it was common hoth to the Southern and the North- 
ern Buddhists, " patimokkhe " in our passage may possibly be 
meant, as Professor Weber suggests, as the title of that very collec- 
tion. The commentator explains it by " getthaksilsi " and " patimokk- 
hasila." I take " sayanasam " for " sayanasanam ; " see Mahdb. xii. 
6684. In xii. 9978, however, we find also " sayyasane." 

(187.) There is a curious similarity between this verse and verse 
6503 (9919) of the Santiparva : — 

Yafc to, kamasukhawi loke, yafc lea. divyam mahat sukham, 
Trishn&kshayasukhasyaite narhataA sho^asim kal&m. 

" And whatever delight of love there is on earth, and whatever is the 
great delight in heaven, they are not worth the sixteenth part of the 
pleasure which springs from the destruction of all desires." 



OR "PATH OF VIRTUE." 247 

190. 
He who takes refuge with Buddha, the Law, and 
the Church ; he who, with clear understanding, sees 
the four holy truths : — 

191. 

Namely, pain, the origin of pain, the destruction of 
pain, and the eightfold holy way that leads to the 
quieting of pain, — 

192. 

That is the safe refuge, that is the best refuge ; 
having gone to that refuge, a man is delivered from 
all pain. 

193. 

A supernatural person is not easily found, he is not 
born everywhere. Wherever such a sage is born, that 
race prospers. 

194. 

Happy is the arising of the Awakened, happy is 
the teaching of the True Law, happy is peace in the 
church, happy is the devotion of those who are at 
peace. 

(188-192.) These verses occur in Sanskrit in the " Pratiharya- 
sutra," translated by Burnouf, Introduction, pp. 162-189; see p. 186. 
Burnouf translates " rukkha&etyani " by "arbres consacres ; " prop- 
erly, sacred shrines under or near a tree. 

(190.) Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha are called the " Trisarana " 
(cf. Burnouf, Introd. p. 630). The four holy truths are the four 
statements that there is pain in this world, that the source of pain 
is desire, that desire can be annihilated, that there is a way (shown 
by Buddha) by which the annihilation of all desires can be achieved, 
and freedom be obtained. That way consists of eight parts. See 
Burnouf, Introduction, p. 630. The eightfold way forms the subject 
of chapter xviii. See also Chips from a German Workshop, 2d. ed. vol. 
i. p. 251 seq. 



248 BUDDHA'S DHAMMAPADA, 

195, 196. 
He who pays homage to those who deserve homage, 
whether the awakened (Buddha) or their disciples, 
those who have overcome the host (of evils), and 
crossed the flood of sorrow, he who pays homage to 
such as have found deliverance and know no fear, his 
merit can never be measured by anybody. 



OR "PATH OF VIRTUE." 249 



CHAPTER XV. 

HAPPINESS. 

19T. 
IT ET us live happily, then, not hating those who hate 
-" us ! let us dwell free from hatred among men who 
hate! 

198. 
Let us live happily, then, free from ailments among 
the ailing ! let us dwell free from ailments among men 
who are ailing ! 

199. 
Let us live happily, then, free from greed among 
the greedy ! let us dwell free from greed among men 
who are greedy ! 

200. 
Let us live happily, then, though we call nothing 
our own ! We shall be like the bright gods, feeding 
on happiness ! 

(198.) The ailment here meant is moral rather than physical. Cf. 
Mahdbh. xii. 9924, " samprasanto niramayaA ; " 9925, " yo saupranan- 
tiko rogas tarn trishnam tya^rataA sukham." 

(200.) The words placed in the mouth of the king of Videha, while 
his residence Mithila was in flames, are curiously like our verse ; cf. 
Mahdbh. xii. 9917: — 

Susukham vata giv&mi yasya me nasti kimkana. 
Mithilayam pradiptay&m na me dahyati kimkana,. 

" I live happily, indeed, for I have nothing ; while Mithila is in 
flames, nothing of mine is burning." 

The " abhassara," i. e. " abhasvara," the bright gods, are frequently 
mentioned. Cf. Burnouf, Introd. p. 611. 



250 BUDDHA'S DHAMMAPADA, 

201. 
Victory breeds hatred, for the* conquered is un- 
happy. He who has given up both victory and defeat, 
he, the contented, is happy. 

202. 
There is no fire like passion : there is no unlucky 
die like hatred ; there is no pain like this body ; there 
is no happiness like rest. 

203. 
Hunger is the worst of diseases, the body the 
greatest of pains ; if one knows this truly, that is 
Nirvana, the highest happiness. 

(202.) I take "kali" in the sense of an unlucky die which makes 
a player lose his game. A real simile seems wanted here, as in v. 
252, where, for the same reason, I translate " graha " by " shark," 
not by " captivitas," as Dr. Fausboll proposes. The same scholar 
translates " kali " in our verse by " peccatum." If there is any ob- 
jection to translating " kali " in Pali by unlucky die, I should still 
prefer to take it in the sense of the age of depravity, or the demon of 
depravity. 

"Body " for "khandha" is a free translation, but it is difficult to 
find any other rendering. According to the Buddhists each sen- 
tient being consists of five "khandha" (skandha), or branches, 
the organized body (rupa khandha) with its four internal capacities 
of sensation (vedana), perception (sam^na), conception (sa?wskara), 
knowledge (vi</nana). See Burnouf, Introd. pp. 589, 634; Lotus, p. 
335. 

(203.) It is difficult to give an exact rendering of " sawiskara," 
which I have translated sometimes by " body " or " created things," 
sometimes by "natural desires." "Samskara" is the fourth of the 
five " khandhas," but the commentator takes it here, as well as in 
v. 255, for the five " khandhas " together, in which case we can only 
translate it by body, or created things. There is, however, another 
" sawiskara," that which follows immediately upon " avidya," igno- 
rance, as the second of the " nidanas," or causes of existence, and this 
too might be called the greatest pain, considering that it is the cause 
of birth, which is the cause of all pain. Burnouf, Lotus, pp. 109, 827, 



OR "PATH OF VIKTUE." 251 

204. 

Health is the greatest of gifts, contentedness the 
best riches ; trust is the best of relatives, Nirvana, the 
highest happiness. 

He who has tasted the sweetness of solitude and 
tranquillity, is free from fear and free from sin, while 
he tastes the sweetness of drinking in the Law. 

206. 
The sight of the elect (Arya) is good, to live with 
them is always happiness ; if a man does not see fools, 
he will be truly happy. 

207. 
He who walks in the company of fools suffers a long 
way ; company with fools, as with an enemy, is always 

says," L'homme des Buddhistes qui, doue interieurement de Tidee de 
la forme, voit au dehors des formes, et, apres les avoir vaincues, se 
dit : je connais, je vois, ressemble singulierement au ' sujet victorieux 
de chaque objectivite qui demeure le sujet triomphant de toutes 
choses.' " 

1 Sawiskara ' seems sometimes to have a different and less technical 
meaning, and to be used in the sense of conceptions, plans, desires, as, 
for instance, in v. 368, where " samkharana/ra khayam " is used much 
like " tawmakhaya." Desires, however, are the result of " samkhara," 
and if the samkharas are destroyed, desires cease; see v. 154, 
" visawikharagatam kitteun tamhanam khayam agghaga," Again, in his 
comment on v. 75, Buddhaghosha says, " upadhiviveko samkharasam- 
ganikam vinodeti ;" and again, " upadhiviveko ka, nirupadhinam pug- 
galanawi visawkharagatanam." 

For a similar sentiment, see Stanislas Julien, Les Avadanas, vol. 
i. p. 40, " Le corps est la plus grande source de souffrance," etc. I 
should say that " khandha" in v. 202, and '' samkhara" in v. 203, are 
nearly, if not quite, synonymous. I should prefer to read "giga&Ma- 
parama " as a compound. " Gigakkha," or as it is written in one MS., 
" digafcMa," Sk. "^ighatsa" means not only hunger, but appetite, 
desire. 



252 BUDDHA'S DHAMMAPADA, 

painful ; company with the wise is pleasure, like meet- 
ing with kinsfolk. 

208. 

Therefore, one ought to follow the wise, the intel- 
ligent, the learned, the much enduring, the dutiful, 
the elect ; one ought to follow a good and wise man, 
as the moon follows the path of the stars. 

(208.) I should like to read " sukho &a dhirasamvaso." 



OR "PATH OF VIRTUE." 253 



CHAPTER XVI. 

PLEASURE. 

209. 
TTE who gives himself to vanity, and does not give 
-*--*- himself to meditation, forgetting the real aim (of 

life) and grasping at pleasure, will in time envy him 

who has exerted himself in meditation. 

210. 
Let no man ever look for what is pleasant, or what 
is unpleasant. Not to see what is pleasant is pain, and 
it is pain to see what is unpleasant. 

211. 

Let, therefore, no man love anything ; loss of the 
beloved is evil. Those who love nothing, and hate 
nothing, have no fetters. 

212. 

From pleasure comes grief, from pleasure comes 
fear ; he who is free from pleasure knows neither grief 
nor fear. 

213. 

From affection comes grief, from affection comes 
fear; he who is free from affection knows neither 
grief nor fear. 



254 BUDDHA'S DIIAMMAPADA, 

214. 
From lust comes grief, from lust comes fear; he 
who is free from lust knows neither grief nor fear. 

215. 

From love comes grief, from love comes fear ; he 
who is free from love knows neither grief nor fear. 

216. 

From greed comes grief, from greed comes fear ; he 
who is free from greed knows neither grief nor fear. 

217. 

He who possesses virtue and intelligence, who is 
just, speaks the truth, and does what is his own busi- 
ness, him the world will hold dear. 



218. 

He in whom a desire for the Ineffable (Nirvana) 
has sprung up, who is satisfied in his mind, and whose 
thoughts are not bewildered by love, he is called 
Urdhvamsrotas (carried upwards by the stream). 

(218.) " Urdhvamsrotas/' or " uddhamsoto," is the technical name 
for one who has reached the world of the " Avrihas " (Aviha), and is 
proceeding to that of the " AkanishfAas " (AkanitfAa). This is the 
last stage before he reaches the formless world, the " Arupadhatu." 
See Parables, p. 123; Burnouf, Introd. p. 599. Originally "urdh- 
vamsrotas" may have been used in a less technical sense, meaning 
one who swims against the stream, and is not carried away by the vul- 
gar passions of the world. 



OB " PATH OF VIRTUE." 255 

219. 
Kinsfolk, friends, and lovers salute a man who has 
been long away, and returns safe from afar. 

220. 
In like manner his good works receive him who has 
done good, and has gone from this world to the other ; 
as kinsmen receive a friend on his return. 



256 btjddha's dhammapada, 



CHAPTER XVH. 



ANGER. 



221. 



ET a man leave anger, let him forsake pride, let 
-*^ him overcome all bondage ! No sufferings befall 
the man who is not attached to either body or soul, 
and who calls nothing his own. 

222. 
He who holds back rising anger like a rolling char- 
iot, him I call a real driver ; other people are but 
holding the reins. 

223. 
Let a man overcome anger by love, let him over- 
come evil by good ; let him overcome the greedy by 
liberality, the liar by truth ! 

224. 
Speak the truth, do not yield to anger ; give, if 
thou art asked, from the little thou hast ; by those 
steps thou wilt go near the gods. 

(221.) "Body and soul" is the translation of " nama-rupa," lit. 
" name and form," the ninth of the Buddhist Nidanas. Cf. Burnouf, 
Introd. p. 501 ; see also Gogerly, Lecture on Buddhism, and Bigant, 
The Life of Gaudama, p. 454. 

(223.) Mahdbh. xii. 3550, " asadhuwi sadhuna gayet" 



OR "PATH OF VIRTUE." 257 

225. 
The sages who injure nobody, and who always con- 
trol their body, they will go to the unchangeable place 
(Nirvana), where if they have gone, they will suffer 
no more. 

226. 

Those who are always watchful, who study day and 
night, and who strive after Nirvana, their passions 
will come to an end. 

22T. 

This is an old saying, O Atula, this is not only of 
to-day : " They blame him who sits silent, they blame 
him who speaks much, they also blame him who says 
little ; there is no one on earth who is not blamed." 

228. 
There never was, there never will be, nor is there 
now, a man who is always blamed, or a man who is 
always praised. 

229, 230. 

But he whom those who discriminate praise con- 
tinually day after day, as without blemish, wise, rich 
in knowledge and virtue, who would dare to blame 
him, like a coin made of gold from the 6rambu river ? 

(227.) It appears from the commentary that "porarcam" and 
" ag^atanam " are neuters, referring to what happened formerly and 
what happens to-day, and that they are not to be taken as adjec- 
tives referring to " asinam," etc. The commentator must have 
read " atula " instead of " atulam," and he explains it as the name of 
a pupil whom Gautama addressed by that name. This may be so 
(see note to verse 166) ; but "atula" may also be taken in the sense 
of incomparable (Mahdbh. xiii. 1937), and in that case we ought 
to supply, with Professor Weber, some such word as " saw " or 
" saying." 

(230.) The Brahman worlds are higher than the Deva worlds as 
17 



258 BUDDHA'S DHAMMAPADA, 

Even the gods praise him, he is praised even by 
Brahman. 

231. 

Beware of bodily anger, and control thy body ! 
Leave the sins of the body, and with thy body prac- 
tice virtue ! 

232. 

Beware of the anger of the tongue, and control thy 
tongue ! Leave the sins of the tongue, and practice 
virtue with thy tongue ! 

233. 

Beware of the anger of the mind, and control thy 
mind ! Leave the sins of the mind, and practice virtue 
with thy mind ! 

234. 

The wise who control their body, who control their 
tongue, the wise who control their mind, are indeed 
well controlled. 

the Brahman is higher than a Deva. See Hardy, Manual, p. 25 ; 
Burnouf, Introduction, pp. 134, 184. 



OB "PATH OF VIRTUE." 259 



CHAPTER XVIH. 

IMPURITY. 
235. 

npHOU art now like a sear leaf, the messengers of 
-*■ Death (Yama) have come near to thee; thou 
standest at the door of thy departure, and thou hast 
no provision for thy journey. 

236. 

Make thyself an island, work hard, be wise ! When 
thy impurities are blown away, and thou art free from 
guilt, thou wilt enter into the heavenly world of the 
Elect (Ariya). 

237. 
Thy life has come to an end, thou art come near 
to Death (Yama), there is no resting-place for thee 
on the road, and thou hast no provision for thy jour- 
ney. 

238. 

Make thyself an island, work hard, be wise ! When 
thy impurities are blown away, and thou art free from 
guilt, thou wilt not enter again into birth and decay. 

(235.) "Uyyoga" seems to means "departure." See Buddha- 
ghosha's commentary on verse 152, p. 319, 1. 1 ; Fausboll, Five 
Gdtakas, p. 35. 

(236.) An "island," for a drowning man to save himself. See 
verse 25. "Dipamkara" is the name of one of the former Buddhas, 
and it is also used as an appellative of the Buddha. 



260 BUDDHA'S DHAMMAPADA, 

239. 
Let a wise man blow off the impurities of his soul, 
as a smith blows off the impurities of silver, one by 
one, little by little, and from time to time. 

240. 
Impurity arises from the iron, and, having arisen 
from it, it destroys it ; thus do a transgressor's own 
works lead him to the evil path. 

241. 
The taint of prayers is non-repetition ; the taint of 
houses, non-repair ; the taint of the body is sloth, the 
taint of a watchman thoughtlessness. 

242. 
Bad conduct is the taint of woman, greediness the 
taint of a benefactor ; tainted are all evil ways, in 
this world and in the next. 

243. 
But there is a taint worse than all taints, ignorance 
is the greatest taint. O mendicants ! throw off that 
taint, and become taintless ! 

244. 
Life is easy to live for a man who is without shame, 
a crow hero, a mischief-maker, an insulting, bold, and 
wretched fellow. 



(244.) " Pakkhandin " is identified by Dr. Fausboll with "praskan- 
din," one who jumps forward, insults, or, as Buddhaghosha explains 
it, one who meddles with other people's business, an interloper. At 
all events, it is a term of reproach, and, as it would seem, of theologi- 
cal reproach. 



OR "PATH OF VIRTUE." 261 

245. 
But life is hard to live for a modest man, who always 
looks for what is pure, who is disinterested, quiet, spot- 
less, and intelligent. 

246. 

He who destroys life, who speaks untruth, who 
takes in this world what is not given him, who takes 
another man's wife ; 

247. 
And the man who gives himself to drinking intoxi- 
cating liquors, he, even in this world, digs up his own 
root. 

248. 

O man, know this, that the unrestrained are in a 
bad state; take care that greediness and vice do not 
bring thee to grief, for a long time ! 

249. 
The world gives according to their faith or according 
to their pleasure : if a man frets about the food and the 
drink given to others, he will find no rest either by 
day or by night. 

250. 

He in whom that feeling is destroyed, and taken 
out with the very root, finds rest by day and by night. 

(246.) On the five principal commandments which are recapitulated 
in verses 246 and 247, see Parables, p. 153. 

(248.) Cf. Mahabhdrata, xii. 4055, "yesham vrittis M samyata." 
See also v. 307. 

(249.) This verse has evidently regard to the feelings of the Bhik- 
shus or mendicants who receive either much or little, and who are ex- 
horted not to be envious if others receive more than they themselves. 
Several of the parables illustrate this feeling. 



262 buddha's dhammapada, 

251. 
There is no fire like passion, there is no shark like 
hatred, there is no snare like folly, there is no torrent 
like greed. 

252. 

The fault of others is easily perceived, but that of 
oneself is difficult to perceive ; the faults of others 
one lays open as much as possible, but one's own 
fault one hides as a cheat hides the bad die from the 
gambler. 

253. 

If a man looks after the faults of others, and is 
always inclined to detract, his own weaknesses will 
grow, and he is far from the destruction of weakness. 

254. 
There is no path through the air, a man is not a 
Sr&msina, by outward acts. The world delights in 
vanity, the TatMgatas (the Buddhas) are free from 
vanity. 

(251.) Dr. Fausboll translates "gaho" by "captivitas," Dr. "We- 
ber by " fetter." I take it in the same sense as " graha " in Manu, vi. 
78 ; and Buddhaghosha does the same, though he assigns to " graha" 
a more general meaning, namely, anything that seizes, whether an evil 
spirit (yakkha), a serpent (a^ragara) or a crocodile (kumbhila). 

Greed or thirst is represented as a river in " Lalita-vistara," ed. 
Calc. p. 482, " trishna-nadi tivega prasoshita me <jrnanasuryena," the 
wild river of thirst is dried up by the sun of my knowledge. 

(253.) As to " asava/' "weakness," see note to v. 39. 

(254.) I have translated this verse very freely, and not in accordance 
with Buddhaghosha's commentary. Dr. Fausboll proposed to trans- 
late: "No one who is outside the Buddhist community can walk 
through the air, but only a /Sramana ; " and the same view is taken 
by Professor "Weber, though he arrives at it by a different construc- 
tion. Now it is perfectly true that the idea of magical powers (riddhi) 
which enable saints to walk through the air, etc., occurs in the Dham- 
mapada, see v. 175, note. But the Dhammapada may contain earlier 



OR "PATH OF VIRTUE." 263 

255. 
There is no path through the air, a man is not a 
/Sramawa by outward acts. No creatures are eternal ; 
but the Awakened (Buddha) are never shaken. 

and later verses, and in that case our verse might be an early protest 
on the part of Buddha against the belief in such miraculous powers. 
"We know how Buddha himself protested against his disciples being 
called upon to perform vulgar miracles. " I command my disciples not 
to work miracles," he said, "but to hide their good deeds, and to show 
their sins." Burnouf, Introduction, p. 170. It would be in harmony 
with this sentiment if we translated our verse as I have done. As to 
" bahira," I should take it in the sense of " external," as opposed to 
" adhyatmika," or " internal ; " and the meaning would be, a " £ra- 
mana is not a /Sramana by outward acts, but by his heart." 

" Prapaw&a," which I have here translated by " vanity, seems to in- 
clude the whole host of human weaknesses ; cf. v. 196, where it is ex- 
plained by " tawihadiftAimanapapan&a ; " in our verse by " tamhadisu 
pdpan&esu." Cf. Lalita-vistara, p. 564, " analaya?« nishprapan&am 
anutpadam asambhavam (dharma&akram)." As to " Tathogata," a 
name of Buddha, cf. Burnouf, Introd. p. 75. 

(259.) "Samkhara " for " samiskara ; cf. note to v. 203. 



264 



CHAPTER XIX. 

THE JUST. 

256, 257. 

A MAN is not a just judge if he carries a matter 
^"-*- by violence ; no, he wlio distinguishes both right 
and wrong, who is learned and leads others, not by 
violence, bat by law and equity, he who is a guardian 
of the law and intelligent, he is called Just. 

258. 
A man is not learned because he talks much ; he 
who is patient, free from hatred and fear, he is called 
learned. 

259. 

A man is not a supporter of the law because he 
talks much ; even if a man has learned little, but sees 
the law bodily, he is a supporter of the law, a man 
who never neglects the law. 

260. 
A man is not an elder because his head is gray ; his 
age may be ripe, but he is called " Old-in-vain." 

261. 
He in whom there is truth, virtue, love, restraint, 

(259.) Buddhaghosha here takes law (dhamma) in the sense of 
the four great truths, see note to v. 190. Could "dhammam kayena 
passati " mean, he observes the law in his acts 1 Hardly, if we 
compare expressions like " dhammam vipassato," v. 373. 



OR " PATH OF VIRTUE." 265 

moderation, he who is free from impurity and is wise, 
he is called an " Elder." 

262. 
An envious, greedy, dishonest man does not become 
respectable by means of much talking only, or by the 
beauty of his complexion. 

263. 
He in whom all this is ^destroyed, taken out with 
the very root, he, freed from hatred and wise, is called 
"Respectable." 

264. 

Not by tonsure does an undisciplined man who 
speaks falsehood, become a /Sramawa ; can a man be a 
/Sramawa who is still held captive by desire and greed- 
iness? 

265. 

He who always quiets the evil, whether small or 
large, he is called a #rama?ia (a quiet man), because 
he has quieted all evil. 

(265.) This is curious etymology, because it shows that at the 
time when this verse was written, the original meaning of " sramana " 
had been forgotten. " Sramana " meant originally, in the language 
of the Brahmans, a man who performed hard penances, from " sram," 
to work hard, etc. "When it became the name of the Buddhist as- 
cetics, the language had changed, and " sramana " was pronounced 
" samana." Now there is another Sanskrit root, "sam," to quiet, 
which in Pali becames likewise " sam," and from this root " sam," to 
quiet, and not from " sram," to tire, did the popular etymology of 
the day and the writer of our verse derive the title of the Buddhist 
priests. The original form " sramana " became known to the Greeks 
as Sap/idvai, that of " samana " as Zaftavcuoi ; the former though Me- 
gasthenes, the latter through Bardesanes, 80-60 b. c. See Lassen, 
Indische Alterthicmskunde, ii. 700. The Chinese " Shamen " and the 
Tungusian " Shamen " come from the same source, though the 
latter is sometimes doubted. 



266 BUDDHA'S DHAMMAPADA, 

266. 
A man is not a mendicant (Bhikshu), simply be- 
cause he asks others for alms; he who adopts the 
whole law is a Bhikshu, not he who only begs. 

267. 
He who is above good and evil, who is chaste, who 
with knowledge passes through the world, he indeed 
is called a Bhikshu. 

268, 269. 

A man is not a Muni because he observes silence 
(mona, i. e. mauna), if he is foolish and ignorant ; but 
the wise who, taking the balance, chooses the good 
and avoids evil, he is a " Muni," and is a " Muni ". 
thereby; he who in this world weighs both sides is 
called a " Muni." 

270. 

A man is not an Elect (Ariya) because he injures 
living creatures; because he has pity on all living 
creatures, therefore is a man called " Ariya." 

271, 272. 
Not only by discipline and vows, not only by much 
learning, not by entering into a trance, not by sleep- 

(266, 270.) The etymologies here given of the ordinary titles of 
the followers of Buddha are entirely fanciful, and are curious only as 
showing how the people who spoke Pali had lost the etymological 
consciousness of their language. A " Bhikshu " is a beggar, i. e. } a 
Buddhist friar who has left his family and lives entirely on alms. 
"Muni" is a sage, hence " ASakya-muni," the name of Gautama. 
" Muni " comes from " man/' to think, and from " muni " comes 
"mauna," silence. "Ariya," again, is the general name of those 
who embace a religious life. It meant originally "respectable, 
noble." In v. 270 it seems as if the writer wished to guard against 
deriving " ariya " from " ari," enemy. See note to v. 22. 



OR "PATH OF VIRTUE." 267 

ing alone, do I learn the happiness of release which no 
worldling can know. A Bhikshu receives confidence 
when he has reached the complete destruction of all 
desires ! 



(272.) The last line is obscure, because the commentary is im- 
perfect. 



268 



CHAPTER XX. 

THE WAY. 
273. 

rjlHE best of ways is the Eightfold ; the best of 
-*- truths the Four Words ; the best of virtues pas- 
sionlessness ; the best of men he who has eyes to see. 

274. 
This is the way, there is no other that leads to the 
purifying of intelligence. Go ye on this way ! Every- 
thing else is the deceit of Mara (the tempter). 

275. 
If you go on this way, you will make an end of 
pain ! The way was preached by me, when I had 
understood the removal of the thorns (in the flesh). 

(273.) The eightfold or eight-membered way is the technical term 
for the way by which Nirvana is attained. See Burnouf, Lotus, 519. 
This very way constitutes the fourth of the Four Truths, or the four 
words of truth, namely, DuAkha, pain ; Samudaya, origin ; Nirodha, 
destruction; Marga, road. Lotus, p. 517. See note to v. 178. For 
another explanation of the Marga, or way, see Hardy, Eastern Mon- 
achism, p. 280. 

(275.) The "salyas," arrows or thorns, are the " sokasalya," the 
arrows of grief. Buddha himself is called " mahAsalya-harta," 
the great remover of thorns. Lalita-vistara, p. 550; Mahqbh. xii. 
5616. 



OR "PATH OF VIRTUE." 269 

276. 
You yourself must make an effort. The TatMgatas 
(Buddhas) are only preachers. The thoughtful who 
enter the way are freed from the bondage of M&ra. 

277. 
" All created things perish," he who knows and 
sees this becomes passive in pain ; this is the way to 

^^ . 278. 

u All creatures are grief and pain," he who knows 
and sees this becomes passive in pain ; this is the way 
to purity. 

F ' 279. 

M All forms are unreal," he who knows and sees 
this becomes passive in pain ; this is the way to purity. 

280. 
He who does not rise when it is time to rise, who, 
though young and strong, is full of sloth, whose will 
and thought are weak, that lazy and idle man will 
never find the way to knowledge. 

281. 
Watching his speech, well restrained in mind, let 
a man never commit any wrong with his body ! Let 
a man but keep these three roads of action clear, and 
he will achieve the way which is taught by the wise. 

282. 
Through zeal knowledge is gotten, through lack of 

(277.) Seev. 255. 
(278.) See v. 203. 

(279.) " Dhamma " is here explained, like " samkhara," as the five 
" khandha," i. e., as what constitutes a living body. 



270 BUDDHA'S DHAMMAPADA. 

zeal knowledge is lost ; let a man who knows this 
double path of gain and loss thus place himself that 
knowledge may grow. 

283. 

Cut down the whole forest of lust, not the tree ! 
From lust springs fear. When you have cut down 
every tree and every shrub, then, Bhikshus, you will 
be free ! 

284. 

So long as the love of man towards women, even the 
smallest, is not destroyed, so long is his mind in bond- 
age, as the calf that drinks milk is to its mother. 

285. 
Cut out the love of self, like an autumn lotus, with 
thy hand ! Cherish the road of peace. Nirvana has 
been shown by Sugata (Buddha). 

286. 
" Here I shall dwell in the rain, here in winter and 
summer," thus meditates the fool, and does not think 
of his death. 

287. 
Death comes and carries off that man, surrounded 
by children and flocks, his mind distracted, as a flood 
carries off a sleeping village. 

(282.) "Bhuri" was rightly translated " intelligentia " by Dr. 
Fausboll. Dr. Weber renders it by " Gedeihen," but the commen- 
tator distinctly explains it as " vast knowledge," and in the technical 
sense the word occurs after " vidya " and before " midha," in the 
Lalita-vistara, p. 541. 

(283.) A pun, " vana" meaning both "lust" and "forest." 

(286.) " Antaraya," according to the commentator, " #ivitantaraya," 
i. e. y interitus, death. In Sanskrit, " antarita " is used in the sense of 
" vanished " or " perished." 

(287.) See notes to v. 47, and cf. MaMbh. xii. 9944, 6540. 



OB "PATH OF VIRTUE." 271 

288. 
Sons are no help, nor a father, nor relations ; there 
is no help from kinsfolk for one whom Death has 
seized. 

289. 

A wise and good man who knows the meaning of 
this, should quickly clear the way that leads to Nir- 
vana. 



272 BUDDHA'S DHAMMAPADA, 



CHAPTER XXI. 

MISCELLANEOUS. 
290. 

TF by leaving a small pleasure one sees a great pleas- 
•*• ure, let a wise man leave the small pleasure, and 
look to the great. 

291. 

He who, by causing pain to others, wishes to obtain 
pleasure himself, he, entangled in the bonds of hatred, 
will never be free from hatred. 

292. 
What ought to be done is neglected, what ought 
not to be done is done ; the sins of unruly, thought- 
less people are always increasing. 

293. 
But they whose whole watchfulness is always di- 
rected to their body, who do not follow what ought 
not to be done, and who steadfastly do what ought 
to be done, the sins of such watchful and wise people 
will eome to an end. 

294. 

A true Br&hmafta, though he has killed father and 
mother, and two valiant kings, though he has de- 
stroyed a kingdom with all its subjects, is free from 
guilt. 



OR "PATH OF VIRTUE." 273 

295. 
A true Brahmawa, though he has killed father and 
mother, and two holy kings, and even a fifth man, is 
free from guilt. 

296. 

The disciples of Gotama (Buddha) are always well 
awake, and their thoughts day and night are always 
set on Buddha. 

297. 
The disciples of Gotama are always well awake, 
and their thoughts day and night are always set on 
the Law. 

298. 

The disciples of Gotama are always well awake, 
and their thoughts day and night are always set on 
the Church. 

299. 

The disciples of Gotama are always well awake, 
and their thoughts day and night are always set on 
their body. 

300. 

The disciples of Gotama are always well awake, 
and their mind day and night always delights in com- 
passion. 

301. 
The disciples of Gotama are always well awake, 
and their mind day and night always delights in med- 
itation. 

302. 

The hard parting, the hard living alone, the unin- 

(294, 295.) These two verses are either meant to show that a truly 
holy man who by accident commits all these crimes is guiltless, or 
they refer to some particular event in Buddha's history. The com- 
mentator is so startled that he explains them allegorically. The 
meaning of " veyyaggha " I do not understand. 
18 



274 BUDDHA'S DHAMMAPADA, 

habitable houses are painful ; painful is the company 
with men who are not our equals ; subject to pain are 
the travelling friars ; therefore let no man be a travel- 
ling friar, and he will not be subject to pain. 

303. 
Whatever place a faithful, virtuous, celebrated, and 
wealthy man chooses, there he is respected. 

304. 
Good people shine from afar, like the snowy moun- 
tains; bad people are not seen, like arrows shot by 
night. 

(302.) Unless this verse formed part of a miscellaneous chapter, I 
should hardly have ventured to translate it as I have. If the verse 
means anything, it means that parting with one's friends, living in the 
wilderness, or in wretched hovels, or travelling about from place to 
place, homeless and dependent on casual charity, is nothing but pain 
and grief, and, we should say, according to the author's opinion, use- 
less. In other verses, on the contrary, this very life, this parting with 
all one holds dear, living in solitude, and depending on alms, is repre- 
sented as the only course that can lead a man to wisdom, peace, and 
Nirvana. Such contradictions, strange as they sound, are not uncom- 
mon in the literature of the Brahmans. Here, too, works are fre- 
quently represented as indispensable to salvation, and yet, in other 
places, and from a higher point of view, these very works are con- 
demned as useless, nay, even as a hindrance in a man's progress to 
real perfection. It is possible that the same view found advocates even 
in the early days of Buddhism, and that, though performing the or- 
dinary duties, and enjoying the ordinary pleasures of life, a man 
might consider that he was a truer disciple of Buddha than the dreamy 
inhabitant of a Vihara, or the mendicant friar who every morning 
called for alms at the layman's door (cf. w. 141, 142). The next verse 
confirms the view which I have taken. 

Should it not be " asamanasawvaso," i. e. } living with people who 
are not one's equals, which was the case in the Buddhist communities, 
and must have been much against the grain of the Hindus, accustomed, 
as they were, to live always among themselves, among their own rela 
tions, their own profession, their own caste 1 Living with his supe 
riors is equally disagreeable to a Hindu, as living with his inferiors 
" Asamama," unequal, might easily be mistaken for " samana," proud 



OR "PATH OF VIRTUE." 275 

305. 
He who, without ceasing, practices the duty of eat- 
ing alone and sleeping alone, he, subduing himself, 
alone will rejoice in the destruction of all desires, as 
if living in a forest. 

(305.) I have translated this verse so as to bring it into something 
like harmony with the preceding verses. " Vanante," according to a 
pun pointed out before (v. 283), means both "in the end of a forest," 
and "in the end of desires." 



276 buddha's dhammapada, 



CHAPTER XXIL 

THE DOWNWARD COURSE. 

306. 
TTE who says what is not, goes to hell ; he also 
A -*- who, having done a thing, says I have not done 
it. After death both are equal, they are men with evil 
deeds in the next world. 

307. 
Many men whose shoulders are covered with the 
orange gown are ill-conditioned and unrestrained ; 
such evil-doers by their evil deeds go to hell. 

308. 
Better it would be to swallow a heated iron ball, 
like flaring fire, than that a bad unrestrained fellow 
should live on the charity of the land. 

309. 
Four things does a reckless man gain who covets 

(306.) I translate " niraya," the exit, the downward course, the evil 
path, by " hell," because the meaning assigned to that ancient mytho- 
logical name by Christian writers comes so near to the Buddhist idea 
of " niraya," that it is difficult not to believe in some actual contact 
between these two streams of thought. See also Mahdbh. xii. 7176. 
" Abhutavadin " is mentioned as a name of Buddha, " sarvasamskar- 
apratisuddhatvat." Lalita-vistara, p. 555. 

(308.) The charity of the land, i. e., the alms given, from a sense of 
religious duty, to every mendicant that asks for it. 



OR "PATH OF VIRTUE." 277 

his neighbor's wife, — a bad reputation, an uncomfort- 
able bed, thirdly, punishment, and lastly, hell. 

310. 

There is bad reputation, and the evil way (to hell) ; 
there is the short pleasure of the frightened in the 
arms of the frightened, and the king imposes heavy 
punishment ; therefore let no man think of his neigh- 
bor's wife. 

311. 

As a grass-blade, if badly grasped, cuts the arm, 
badly-practiced asceticism leads to hell. 

312. 

An act carelessly performed, a broken vow, and 
hesitating obedience to discipline, all this brings no 
great reward. 

313. 

If anything is to be done, let a man do it, let him 
attack it vigorously ! A careless pilgrim only scat- 
ters the dust of his passions more widely. 

314. 

An evil deed is better left undone, for a man re- 
pents of it afterwards ; ft good deed is better done, 
for having done it, one does not repent. 

(309, 310.) The four things mentioned in verse 309 seem to be re- 
peated in verse 310. Therefore, " apunnalabha," bad fame, is the 
same in both : " gati papika " must be " niraya ; " " danda " must be 
"ninda," and "rati thokika" explains the " anikamaseyyam." Bud- 
dhaghosha takes the same view of the meaning of " anikamaseyya," 
i. e., " yatha i&Mati evaw seyyam alabhitva, ani&Mitam parittakam eva 
kala/n seyyam labhati," not obtaining the rest as he wishes it, he ob- 
tains it, as he does not wish it, i. e., for a short time only. 

(313.) As to "raya" meaning "dust" and "passion," see Para- 
bles, pp. 65 and 66. 



278 

315. 
Like a well-guarded frontier fort, with defenses 
within and without, so let a man guard himself. Not 
a moment should escape, for they who allow the right 
moment to pass, suffer pain when they are in hell. 

316. 
They who are ashamed of what they ought not to 
be ashamed of, and are not ashamed of what they 
ought to be ashamed of, such men, embracing false 
doctrines, enter the evil path. 

317. 

They who fear when they ought not to fear, and 
fear not when they ought to fear, such men, embrac- 
ing false doctrines, enter the evil path. 

318. 
They who forbid when there is nothing to be for- 
bidden, and forbid not when there is something to be 
forbidden, such men, embracing false doctrines, enter 
the evil path. 

319. 
They who know what is forbidden as forbidden, 
and what is not forbidden as not forbidden, such men, 
embracing the true doctrine, enter the good path. 



OB "PATH OF VIRTUE." 279 



CHAPTER XXHL 

THE ELEPHANT. 
320. 

CILENTLY shall I endure abuse as the elephant 
^ in battle endures the arrow sent from the bow : for 
the world is ill-natured. 

321. 
A tamed elephant they lead to battle, the king 
mounts a tamed elephant ; the tamed is the best among 
men, he who silently endures abuse. 

322. 
Mules are good, if tamed, and noble Sindhu horses, 
and elephants with large tusks ; but he who tames 
himself is better still. 

323. 

For with these animals does no man reach the un- 
trodden country (Nirvana), where a tamed man goes 
on a tamed animal, namely on his own well-tamed self. 

(320.) The elephant is with the Buddhists the emblem of endurance 
and self-restraint. Thus Buddha himself is called " Naga," the Ele- 
phant (Lalita-vistara, p. 553), or " Mahanaga," the great Elephant 
(Lalita-vistara, p. 553), and in one passage (Lalita-vistara, p. 554) the 
reason of this name is given, by stating that Buddha was " sudanta," 
well-tamed, like an elephant. 

Cf. Manu, vi. 47, " ativadams titiksheta." 

(323.) I read, as suggested by Dr. Fausboll, "yath' attana sudan- 
tena danto dantena gsJckh&tl" Cf. v. 160. The India Office MS. 
reads " na hi etehi thknehi gsJckkeja. agatawi disam, yath' attanawi su- 
dantena danto dantena ga&Mati." As to " thknehi " instead }f yan- 
ehi," see v. 224. 



280 buddha's dhammapada, 

324. 
The elephant called Dhamap&laka, his temples run- 
ning with sap, and difficult to hold, does not eat a 
morsel when bound ; the elephant longs for the ele- 
phant grove. 

If a man becomes fat and a great eater, if he is 
sleepy and rolls himself about, that fool, like a hog fed 
on wash, is born again and again. 

326. 
This mind of mine went formerly wandering about 
as it liked, as it listed, as it pleased ; but I shall now 
hold it in thoroughly, as the rider who holds the hook 
holds in the furious elephant. 

327. 
Be not thoughtless, watch your thoughts ! Draw 
yourself out of the evil way, like an elephant sunk in 
mud. 

328. 

If a man find a prudent companion who walks with 
him, is wise, and lives soberly, he may walk with him, 
overcoming all dangers, happy, but considerate. 

(326.) " Yoniso," i. e., "yonisaA," is rendered by Dr. Fausboll "sa- 
pientia," but the reference which he gives to Hema&andra (ed. Boeht- 
lingk and Kieu, p. 281) shows clearly that it meant "origin/' or 
" cause." " Yoniso " occurs frequently as a mere adverb, meaning 
thoroughly, radically (Dhammap. p. 359), and "yoniso manasikara" 
(Dhammap. p. 110) means "taking to heart" or "minding thor- 
oughly." In the Lalita-vistara, p. 41, the commentator has clearly mis- 
taken " yonisaA," changing it to " yesniso," and explaining it by " yam- 
anisam," whereas M. Foucaux has rightly translated it by "depuis 
rorigine." Professor Weber imagines he has discovered in " yonisaA " 
a double-entendre, but even grammar would show that our author is 
innocent of it. 



OR "PATH OF VIRTUE." 281 

329. 
If a man find no prudent companion who walks 
with him, is wise, and lives soberly, let him walk 
alone, like a king who has left his conquered coun- 
try behind, — like a lonely elephant. 

330. 
It is better to live alone, there is no companionship 
with a fool ; let a man walk alone, let him commit no 
sin, with few wishes, like the lonely elephant. 

331. 
If an occasion arises, friends are pleasant ; enjoy- 
ment is pleasant if it is mutual ; a good work is pleas- 
ant in the hour of death ; the giving up of all grief is 
pleasant. 

332. 

Pleasant is the state of a mother, pleasant the state 
of a father, pleasant the state of a /Sramawa, pleasant 
the state of a Brahmawa. 

333. 
Pleasant is virtue lasting to old age, pleasant is a 
faith firmly rooted ; pleasant is attainment of intelli- 
gence, pleasant is avoiding of sins. 

(332.) The commentator throughout takes these words, like "mat- 
teyyata," etc., to signify, not the status of a mother, or maternity, but 
reverence shown to a mother. 



282 BUDDHA'S DHAMMAPADA 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

THIRST. 
334. 

rilHE thirst of a thoughtless man grows like a creep- 
-*- er; he runs hither and thither, like a monkey- 
seeking fruit in the forest. 

335. 
Whom this fierce thirst overcomes, full of poison, 
in this world, his sufferings increase like the abound- 
ing Birawa grass. 

336. 

He who overcomes this fierce thirst, difficult to be 
conquered in this world, sufferings fall off from him, 
like water-drops from a lotus leaf. 

337. 
This salutary word I tell you, as many as are here 
come together : " Dig up the root of thirst, as he who 
wants the sweet-scented Usira root must dig up the 
Birawa grass, that Mara (the tempter) may not crush 
you again and again, as the stream crushes the reeds." 

338. 
As a tree is firm as long as its root is safe, and 
grows again even though it has been cut down, thus, 

(335.) Virana grass is the Andropogon muricatum, and the scented 
root of it is called " usira " (cf. v. 337). 



OR " PATH OF VIRTUE." 283 

unless the yearnings of thirst are destroyed, this pain 
(of life) will return again and again. 

339. 
He whose desire for pleasure runs strong in the 
thirty-six channels, the waves will carry away that 
misguided man, namely, his desires which are set on 
passion. 

340. 

The channels run everywhere, the creeper (of pas- 
sion) stands sprouting ; if you see the creeper spring- 
ing up, cut its root by means of knowledge. 

341. 

A creature's pleasures are extravagant and luxuri- 
ous ; sunk in lust and looking for pleasure, men un- 
dergo (again and again) birth and decay. 

342. 
Men, driven on by thirst, run about like a snared 
hare ; held in fetters and bonds, they undergo pain 
for a long time, again and again. 

343. 
Men, driven on by thirst, run about like a snared 

(338.) On " Anusaya," i. e., "anusaya," see Wassiljew, Der Bud- 
dkismus, p. 240 seg. 

(339.) The thirty-six channels, or passions, which are divided by 
the commentator into eighteen external and eighteen internal, are 
explained by Burnouf (Lotus, p. 649), from a gloss of the " 6rina- 
ala/nkara: " " L'indication precise des affections dont un Buddha acte 
independant, affections qui sont au nombre de dix-huit, nous est fourni 
par la glose d'un livre appartenant aux Buddhistes de Ceylan," 
etc. 

" Vaha," which Dr. Fausboll translates by " equi," may be " vaha," 
undae. 



284 BUDDHA'S DHAMMAPADA, 

hare ; let therefore the mendicant who desires passion- 
lessness for himself, drive out thirst ! 

344. 
He who in a country without forests (i. e., after hav- 
ing reached Nirvawa) gives himself over to forest-life 
(i. e., to lust), and who, when removed from the for- 
est (j. 0., from lust), runs to the forest (i. e., to lust), 
look at that man ! though free, he runs into bondage. 

345. 
Wise people do not call that a strong fetter which 
is made of iron, wood or hemp ; far stronger is the 
care for precious stones and rings, for sons and a wife. 

346. 
That fetter do wise people call strong which drags 
down, yields, but is difficult to undo ; after having cut 
this at last, people enter upon their pilgrimage, free 
from cares, and leaving desires and pleasures behind. 

347. 
Those who are slaves to passions, run up and down 
the stream (of desires) as a spider runs up and down 
the web which he has made himself; when they have 
cut this, people enter upon their pilgrimage, free from 
cares, leaving desires and pleasures behind. 

(344.) This verse seems again full of puns, all connected with the 
twofold meaning of " vana," forest and lust. By replacing " forest " 
by " lust," we may translate : " He who, when free from lust, gives 
himself up to lust, who, when removed from lust runs into lust, look 
at that man," etc. " Nibbana," though with a short a, may be in- 
tended to remind the hearer of Nibbana. 

(345.) " Apekha, apeksha," care ; see Manu, vi. 41, 49. 

(346.) " Faxibbag," i. e. "parivra#; " see Manu, vi. 41. 

(347.) The commentator explains the simile of the spider as fol 



285 

348. 
Give up what is before, give up what is behind, 
give up what is in the middle, when thou goest to the 
other shore of existence ; if thy mind is altogether 
free, thou wilt not again enter into birth and decay. 

349. 
If a man is tossed about by doubts, full of strong 
passions, and yearning only for what is delightful, 
his thirst will grow more and more, and he will in- 
deed make his fetters strong. 

350. 
If a man delights in quieting doubts, and, always 
reflecting, dwells on what is not delightful, he cer- 
tainly will remove, nay, he will cut the fetter of 
Mara. 

351. 
He who has obtained rest, who does not tremble, 
who is without thirst and without blemish, he has 
broken all the thorns of life : this will be his last body. 

352. 
He who is without thirst and without affection, who 
understands the words and their interpretation, who 
knows the order of letters (those which are before and 
which are after), he has received his last body, he is 
called the great sage, the great man. 

lows : "Asa spider, after having made its thread-web, sits in the mid- 
dle or the centre, and after killing with a violent rush a butterfly or a 
fly which has fallen in its circle, drinks its juice, returns, and sits again 
in the same place, in the same manner creatures who are given to pas- 
sions, depraved by hatred, and maddened by wrath, run along the 
stream of thirst which they have made themselves, and cannot cross 
it," etc. 

(352.) As to "Nirutti," and its technical meaning among the Bud- 



286 BUDDHA'S DHAMMAPADA, 

353. 
" I have conquered all, I know all, in all conditions 
of life I am free from taint ; I have left all, and 
through the destruction of thirst I am free ; having 
learnt myself, whom shall I teach ? " 

354. 
The gift of the law exceeds all gifts ; the sweetness 
of the law exceeds all sweetness ; the delight in the 
law exceeds all delights ; the extinction of thirst over- 
comes all pain. 

355. 
Pleasures destroy the foolish, if they look not for 
the other shore ; the foolish by his thirst for pleasures 
destroys himself, as if he were his own enemy. 

356. 
The fields are damaged by weeds ; mankind is dam- 
aged by passion : therefore a gift bestowed on the pas- 
sionless brings great reward. 

357. 
The fields are damaged by weeds, mankind is dam- 
aged by hatred: therefore a gift bestowed on those 
who do not hate brings great reward. 

dhists, see Burnouf, Lotus, p. 841. Fausboll translates "niruttis 
vocabulorum peritus," which may be right. Could not " sannipata " 
mean " samhita " or " sannikarsha " ? " Sannipata " occurs in the 
iSakala-pr&tisakhya, but with a different meaning. 

(354.) The " dhammadana," or gift of the law, is the technical 
term for instruction in the Buddhist religion. See Parables, p. 160, 
where the story of the " Sakkadevara^a " is told, and where a free 
rendering of our verse is given. 



OR " PATH OF VIRTUE." 287 

358. 
The fields are damaged by weeds, mankind is dam- 
aged by vanity : therefore a gift bestowed on those 
who are free from vanity brings great reward. 

359. 
The fields are damaged by weeds, mankind is dam- 
aged by wishing : therefore a gift bestowed on those 
who are free from wishes brings great reward. 



288 BUDDHA'S DHAMMAPADA, 



CHAPTER XXV. 

THE BHIKSHU (MENDICANT). 
360. 

"DESTRAINT in the eye is good, good is restraint 
J-^ in the ear, in the nose restraint is good, good 
is restraint in the tongue. 

361. 

In the body restraint is good, good is restraint in 
speech, in thought restraint is good, good is restraint 
in all things. A Bhikshu, restrained in all things, is 
freed from all pain. 

362. 

He who controls his hand, he who controls his feet, 
he who controls his speech, he who is well controlled, 
he who delights inwardly, who is collected, who is sol- 
itary and content, him they call Bhikshu. 

(362.) " Ag^attarata," i. e., " adhyatmarata," is an expression 
which we may take in its natural sense, in which case it would 
simply mean, delighting inwardly. But "adhyatmarata" has a 
technical sense in Sanskrit and with the Brahmans. They use it in 
the seiise of delighting in the Adhyatman, i. e.,the Supreme Self, or 
Brahlftin. See Manu, vi. 49, and Kulluka's commentary.. As the 
Buddhists do not recognize a Supreme Self or Brahman, they cannot 
use the word in its Brahmanical sense, and thus we find that Bud. 
dhaghosha explains it as " delighting in meditation on the Kammas- 
thana, a Buddhist formulary, whether externally or internally." I am 
not certain of the exact meaning of Buddhaghosha's words, but what- 
ever they mean, it is quite clear that he does not take " adhyatmarata " 
in the Brahmanical sense. The question then arises who used the 



OR "PATH OF VIRTUE." 289 

363. 
The Bhikshu who controls his mouth, who speaks 
wisely and calmly, who teaches the meaning and the 
Law, his word is sweet. 

364. 
He who dwells in the Law, delights in the Law, 
meditates on the Law, follows the Law, that Bhikshu 
will never fall away from the true Law. 

365. 
Let him not despise what he has received, nor ever 
envy others : a mendicant who envies others does not 
obtain peace of mind. 

366. 

A Bhikshu who, though he receives little, does not 
despise what he has received, even the gods will 
praise him, if his life is pure, and if he is not slothful. 

367. 
He who never identifies himself with his body and 

term first, and who borrowed it, and here it would seem, considering 
the intelligible growth of the word in the philosophical systems of 
the Brahmans, that the priority belongs for once to the Brahmans. 

(363.) On "artha" and " dharma," see Stanislas Julien, Les 
Avaddnas, i. 217, note: "Les quatre connaissances sont; 1° la con- 
naissance du sens (artha) ; 2° la connaissance de la Loi (dharma) ; 3<> 
la connaissance des explications (niroukti) ; 4° la connaissance de 
^intelligence (pratibhana). " 

(364.) The expression " dhammaramo," having his garden or 
delight (Lustgarten) in the Law, is well matched by the Brahmanic 
expression " ekarama," i. e., " nirdvandva." Mahdbh. xiii. 1930. 

(367.) "Mmarupa" is here used again in its technical sense of 
body and soul, neither of which is " atman," or self. V Asat," what 
is not, may therefore mean the same as " namarupa," or we may take 
it in the sense of what is no more, as, for instance, the beauty or youth 
of the body, the vigor of the mind, etc. 
19 



290 buddha's dhammapada, 

soul, and does not grieve over what is no more, he in- 
deed is called a Bhikshu. 

368. 
The Bhikshu who acts with kindness, who is calm 
in the doctrine of Buddha, will reach the quiet place 
(Nirvana), cessation of natural desires, and happiness. 

369. 
O Bhikshu, empty this boat ! if emptied, it will go 
quickly ; having cut off passion and hatred, thou wilt 
go to Nirvana. 

370. 
Cut off the five (senses), leave the five, rise above 
the five ? A Bhikshu, who has escaped from the five 
fetters, he is called Oghatbma, " Saved from the flood." 

371. 

Meditate, O Bhikshu, and be not heedless ! Do 
not direct thy thought to what gives pleasure ! that 
thou mayest not for thy heedlessness have to swallow 
the iron ball (in hell), and that thou mayest not cry 
out when burning, " This is pain." 

372. 
Without knowledge there is no meditation, without 
meditation there is no knowledge : he who has knowl- 
edge and meditation is near unto Nirvana. 

(371.) The swallowing of hot iron balls is considered as a punish- 
ment in hell ; see v. 308. Professor Weber has perceived the right 
meaning of "bhavassu," which can only be " bhavayasva," but I 
doubt whether the rest of his rendering is right, " Do not swallow by 
accident an iron ball." 



OR "PATH OF VIRTUE." 291 

373. 
A Bhikshu who has entered his empty house, and 
whose mind is tranquil, feels a more than human de- 
light when he sees the law clearly. 

374. 
As soon as he has considered the origin and destruc- 
tion of the elements (khandha) of the body, he finds 
happiness and joy which belong to those who know 
the immortal (Nirvawa). 

375. 

And this is the beginning here for a wise Bhikshu : 
watchfulness over the senses, contentedness, restraint 
under the Law ; keep noble friends whose life is pure, 
and who are not slothful. 

376. 
Let him live in charity, let him be perfect in his 
duties ; then in the fullness of delight he will make an 
end of suffering. 

377. 
As the Vassika-plant sheds its withered flowers, men 
should shed passion and hatred, O ye Bhikshus ! 

378. 
The Bhikshu whose body and tongue and mind are 
quieted, who is collected, and has rejected the baits of 
the world, he is called Quiet. 

379. 
Rouse thyself by thyself, examine thyself by thy- 
self, thus self-protected and attentive wilt thou live 
happily, O Bhikshu ! 



292 BUDDHA'S DHAMMAPADA, 

380. 

For self is the lord of self, self is the refuge of self; 
therefore curb thyself as the merchant curbs a good 
horse. 

381. 

The Bhikshu, full of delight, who is calm in the 
doctrine of Buddha will reach the quiet place (Nir- 
vana), cessation of natural desires and happiness. 

382. 
He who, even as a young Bhikshu, applies himself 
to the doctrine of Buddha, brightens up this world, 
like the moon when free from clouds. 

(381.) See verse 368. 



OR "PATH OF VIRTUE." 293 



CHAPTER XXVI. 

THE BRAHMAiVA. 
383. 

STOP the stream valiantly, drive away the desires, 
O Brdhmawa ! When you have understood the 
destruction of all that was made, you will understand 
that which was not made. 

384. 
If the Br&hmawa has reached the other shore in 
both laws (in restraint and contemplation), all bonds 
vanish from him who has obtained knowledge. 

385. 
He for whom there is neither this nor that shore, 
nor both, him, the fearless and unshackled, I call in- 
deed a Br&hmarai. 

386. 

He who is thoughtful, blameless, settled, dutiful, 
without passions, and who has attained the highest 
end, him I call indeed a Br&hmawa. 

387. 
The sun is bright by day, the moon shines by night, 
the warrior is bright in his armor, the Br&hmawa is 

(385.) The exact meaning of the two shores is not quite clear and 
the commentator who takes them in the sense of internal and external 
organs of sense, can hardly be right. See v. 86. 



294 buddha's dhammapada, 

bright in his meditation ; but Buddha, the Awakened, 
is bright with splendor day and night. 

388. 
Because a man is rid of evil, therefore he is called 
Bralunana ; because he walks quietly, therefore he is 
called iS'ramawa ; because he has sent away his own im- 
purities, therefore he is called Pravra^ita (a pilgrim). 

389. 
No one should attack a Br&hmawa, but no Br&hmawa 
(if attacked) should let himself fly at his aggressor ! 
Woe to him who strikes a Br&hmawa, more woe to 
him who flies at his aggressor ! 

390. 
It advantages a Brahmarat not a little if he holds his 
mind back from the pleasures of life ; when all wish to 
injure has vanished, pain will cease. 

391. 
Him I call indeed a Brahmawa who does not offend 
by body, word, or thought, and is controlled on these 
three points. 

(388.) These would-be etymologies are again interesting as showing 
the decline of the etymological life of the spoken language of India at 
the time when such etymologies became possible. In order to derive 
" Brahmana " from "vah," it must have been pronounced "bahma- 
no ; " " vah," to remove, occurs frequently in the Buddhistical Sanskrit. 
Cf. Lalita-vistara, p. 551, 1. 1 ; 553, 1. 7. See note to verse 265. 

(390.) I am afraid I have taken too much liberty with this verse. 
Dr. Fausboll translates : " Non Brahmanee hoc paulo melius, quando 
retentio fit mentis a jucundis." In the second verse he translates 
" hirasamano," or " himsamano," by " violenta mens ; " Dr. Weber by 
" der Geist der Schadsucht." Might it be " himsyaniawaA," injured, 
and " nivattati," he is quiet, patient 1 " AhimsamanaA " would be, with 
the Buddhists, the spirit of love. Luke xi. 39. 



OR " PATH OF VIRTUE." 295 

392. 
After a man has once understood the Law as taught 
by the Well-awakened (Buddha), let him worship it 
carefully, as the Brahmana worships the sacrificial fire. 

393. 
A man does not become a Brahmawa by his platted 
hair, by his family, or by both ; in whom there is truth 
and righteousness, he is blessed, he is a Brahmarai. 

394. 
What is the use of platted hair, O fool ! what of 
the raiment of goatskins ? Within thee there is raven- 
ing, but the outside thou makest clean. 

395. 
The man who wears dirty raiments, who is ema- 
ciated and covered with veins, who lives alone in the 
forest, and meditates, him I call indeed a Brahmana. 

396. 
I do not call a man a Brahmana because of his ori- 
gin or of his mother. He may be called " Sir," and 
may be wealthy : but the poor, who is free from all 
attachments, him I call indeed a Brahmana. 

397. 
He who has cut all fetters, and who never trembles, 

(394.) I have not copied the language of the Bible more than I was 
justified in. The words are " abbhantaran te gahanam, bahiram pari- 
ma^asi," interna est abyssus, externum mundas. 

(395.) The expression "Kisan dhamanisanthatam," is the Sanskrit 
"krisam dhamanisantatam," the frequent occurrence of which in the 
Mahabharata has been pointed out by Boehtlingk, s. v. dhamani. It 
looks more like a Brahmanic than like a Buddhist phrase. 



296 BUDDHA'S DHAMMAPADA, 

he who is independent and unshackled, him I call in- 
deed a Br&hmawa. 

398. 

He who has cut the girdle and the strap, the rope 
with all that pertains to it, he who has burst the bar, 
and is awakened, him I call indeed a Br&hmawa. 

399. 
He who, though he has committed no offense, en- 
dures reproach, bonds, and stripes, him, strong in en- 
durance and powerful, I call indeed a Br&hmawa. 

400. 
He who is free from anger, dutiful, virtuous, without 
weakness, and subdued, who has received his last body, 
him I call indeed a Br&hmawa. 

401. 
He who does not cling to pleasures, like water on a 
lotus leaf, like a mustard seed on the point of an awl, 
him I call indeed a Br&hmarat. 

402. 
He who, even here, knows the end of his suffer- 
ing, has put down his burden, and is unshackled, him 
I call indeed a Br&hmaraa. 

403. 
He whose knowledge is deep, who possesses wisdom, 
who knows the right way and the wrong, who has 

(399.) The exact meaning of " balanika " is difficult to find. Does 
it mean, possessed of a strong army, or facing a force, or leading a 
force ? The commentary alone could help us to decide. 



OR "PATH OF VIRTUE." 297 

attained the highest end, him I call indeed a Brah- 
mawa. 

404. 

He who keeps aloof both from laymen and from 
mendicants, goes to no house to beg, and whose de- 
sires are small, him I call indeed a Br&hmawa. 

405. 
He who finds no fault with other beings, whether 
weak or strong, who does not kill nor cause slaughter, 
him I call indeed a Brahmawa. 

406. 
He who is tolerant with the intolerant, mild with 
fault-finders, free from passion among the passionate, 
him I call indeed a Brahmawa. 

407. 
He from whom anger and hatred, pride and envy 
have dropt like a mustard seed from the point of an 
awl, him I call indeed a Brahmawa. 

408. 
He who utters true speech, instructive and free from 
harshness, so that he offend no one, him I call indeed 
a Brahmana. 

(404.) "Anokasari" is translated by Dr. Fausboll "sine domicilio 
grassantem ; " by Dr. Weber, " ohne Heim wandelt." The commen- 
tator seems to support my translation. He says that a man who has 
no intercourse either with householders or with those who hare left 
their houses, but may still dwell together in retirement from the 
world, is " analaya&ara," i. e., a man who goes to nobody's abode, in 
order to see, to hear, to talk, or to eat. He then explains " anokasarin " 
by the same word, " analayaMrin," t. e., a man who goes to nobody's 
residence for any purpose, — and in our case, I suppose, principally 
not for the purpose of begging. 



298 BUDDHA'S DHAMMAPADA, 

409. 
He who takes nothing in the world that is not given 
him, be it long or short, small or large, good or bad, 
him I call indeed a Brlihmawa. 

410. 
He who fosters no desires for this world or for the 
next, has no inclinations, and is unshackled, him I 
call indeed a Brahmawa. 

411. 

He who has no interests, and when he has under- 
stood (the truth), does not say How, how ? — he who 
can dive into the Immortal, him I call indeed a Br&h- 
mawa. 

412. 

He who is above good and evil, above the bondage 
of both, free from grief, from sin, from impurity, him 
I call indeed a Br&hmawa. 

418. 
He who is bright like the moon, pure, serene, and 
undisturbed, in whom all gayety is extinct, him I call 
indeed a Br&hmana. 

(411.) " Akathamkathi " is explained by Buddhaghosha as mean- 
ing, free from doubt or hesitation. He also uses " kathawikatbi " 
in the sense of doubt (verse 414). In the Kdvyddarsa, iii. 17, the 
commentator explains " akatham " by " katharahitam, nirvivadam," 
which would mean, without a "katha," a speech, a story without 
contradiction, unconditionally. From our passage, however, it seems 
as if " katharakatha " was a noun derived from " kathamthayati," to 
say How, how ? so that neither the first nor the second element had 
anything to do with " kath," to relate ; and in that case " akatham/' 
too, ought to be taken in the sense of " without a Why." 

(412.) See verse 39. The distinction between good and evil 
vanishes when a man has retired from the world, and has ceased 
to act, longing only for deliverance. 



OR "PATH OF VIRTUE." 299 

414. 
He who has traversed this mazy, impervious world 
and its vanity, who is through, and has reached the 
other shore, is thoughtful, guileless, free from doubts, 
free from attachment, and content, him I call indeed 
a Brahmana. 

415. 

He who, leaving all desires, travels about without a 
home, in whom all concupiscence is extinct, him I call 
indeed a Brahmawa. 

416. 
He who, leaving all longings, travels about without 
a home, in whom all covetousness is extinct, him I 
call indeed a Brahmawa. 

417. 

He who, after leaving all bondage to men, has risen 
above all bondage to the gods, who is free from every 
bondage, him I call indeed a Brahmawa. 

418. 
He who has left what gives pleasure and what gives 
pain, is cold, and free from all germs (of renewed 
life), the hero who has conquered all the worlds, him 
I call indeed a Brahmawa. 

419. 
He who knows the destruction and the return of 
creatures everywhere, who is free from bondage, wel- 
faring (Sugata), and awakened (Buddha), him I call 
indeed a Brahmana. 

420. 

He whose way the gods do not know, nor spirits 



300 BUDDHA'S DHAMMAPADA. 

(Gandharvas), nor men, and whose passions are ex- 
tinct, him, the venerable, I call indeed a Br&hmana. 

421. 
He who calls nothing his own, whether it be before, 
behind, or between, who is poor, and free from the 
love of the world, him I call indeed a Br&hmawa. 

422. 
The manly, the noble, the hero, the great sage, the 
conqueror, the guileless, the master, the awakened, 
him I call indeed a Brahmawa. 

423. 
He who knows his former abodes, who sees heaven 
and hell, has reached the end of births, is perfect in 
knowledge and a sage, he whose perfections are all 
perfect, him I call indeed a Brahmawa. 



